Taxpayer foots €12,600 bill for DFA staff to stay just 80mins from home
Three nights’ B&B at four-star hotel included in department spend
THE Department of Foreign Affairs spent €12,600 of taxpayers’ money so that 20 officials attending the National Ploughing Championships in Co. Laois could stay at a four-star hotel in Kilkenny.
This is despite the fact that the journey to Ratheniska is only an 80-minute drive from Dublin and it would take the delegation 50 minutes to journey from there to Kilkenny’s River Court Hotel.
The €12,600 bill covered the cost of three nights’ bed and breakfast accommodation at the hotel.
Questioned about the spending, the department insisted the bill was the ‘most cost-effective option’ after they asked multiple hotels for quotations.
The spending is detailed in credit card statements obtained under Freedom of Information legislation.
The department also ran up another
€375 for ‘maintenance of a small colony of bees’
large hotel bill from the Travelodge PLUS in Dublin city centre, where €8,668 was paid for a three-night event.
A spokesman said this was based on a €197-per-night room rate over three days to host speakers and panellists from the controversial Consultative Forum On International Security Policy last year.
Other bills charged to the cards included a €945 meal at L’Gueuleton restaurant in Dublin for a working dinner for 18 people and an Airbnb bill of €1,304 for a diplomat on temporary assignment in Athens.
The department uses multiple cards to buy flights, accommodation, computer equipment, subscriptions and other items.
However, card statements detail some more unusual spending, including a €375 payment to
Mill Lane Beekeeping for the ‘maintenance of a small colony of bees’ at their Iveagh House headquarters as part of their sustainability efforts.
A sum of €810 was spent with Totally Irish Gifts for 27 personalised A5 Claddagh journals for attendees at a working group conference on passport fraud, which took place in Ireland last year.
Another €602 was splashed out on Celtic Nights for a dinner and performance of traditional music and dance on Dublin’s quays during a media visit by journalists
from the Asia-Pacific region. And the department paid out €1,726 to Eason for the purchase of 160 books – James Joyce’s Dubliners and Poems by WB Yeats – for presentation to honorary consuls in recognition of the unsalaried work they do for ‘Irish cultural and community initiatives overseas’.
Training with public relations specialists was also paid for, with €3,250 spent at Carr Communications for five training sessions for 55 departmental staff, and €5,000 to the Communications Clinic for four sessions involving 29 staff.
Almost €12,500 was paid to the Australian company RedR to provide ‘hostile environment awareness training’ for six diplomatic staff serving in various Irish missions in the Middle East.
Department events were also charged to credit cards, including €1,082 paid to the Killeshin Hotel in Portlaoise for hosting a human resources training day for staff from Dublin and Limerick. The
Keadeen Hotel in Newbridge was paid €1,472 for catering for 100 people on a two-day training course.
Other bills included €1,000 with the Army Bargains store, which covered the cost of equipment for security and emergency kits for
use by departmental staff needed to travel in support of Irish citizens in crisis situations overseas.
There was also a payment of just over €2,000 to the Imperial Hotel in Dundalk, related to the visit of US president Joe Biden to Ireland last year.
The department said this covered the cost of 19 bed nights for staff and was the only hotel ‘that could accommodate the department’s requirements at the time of booking’.
Dozens of other items were paid for by credit card, including Facebook and LinkedIn adverts, VIP services at Dublin Airport, language courses, One4all cards, TV licences, an €808 bill from IKEA, and even a €6 charge from bargain store EuroGiant.
Asked about the expenditure, the department claimed it is making increased use of electronic payments for improved security and more efficiency.
A spokesman said: ‘To facilitate this, credit cards are issued to business units where there is a specific business need, including a regular pattern of low value or infrequent payments, a need to make online payments or where suppliers may not provide goods or services on an invoiced basis.
‘Extensive controls are in place governing the use of credit cards. All cards are approved centrally by the Finance Unit on a case-bycase basis and may only be used to arrange for payments that have been dual-authorised.’
‘An €808 bill from IKEA and €6 from EuroGiant’