Eight TDs, a f ive-star trip to Egypt and bill of €15k for the taxpayer
Cairo visit was used to raise the situation of imprisoned Ibrahim Halawa
TAXPAYERS paid almost €15,000 for a five-star delegation of parliamentarians to visit Egypt – where they raised the plight of imprisoned Irish citizen Ibrahim Halawa.
The trip was just one in a number which cost a total of €141,000, so far this year. TDs and senators trekked as far as New York, Chicago, Egypt, Bangladesh and Mongolia for their work, according to the records released under Freedom of Information rules.
One of the largest bills was the €6,752 hotel bill for eight politicians who travelled to Egypt in January as part of a ‘bilateral visit’ during which they raised the continued imprisonment of Mr Halawa.
The politicians were Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl, Fianna Fáil’s Darragh O’Brien, Fine Gael’s Colm Brophy, Socialist Paul Murphy, Labour leader Brendan Howlin, independent Noel Grealish, Sinn Féin’s Eoin Ó Broin and the Green TD Eamon Ryan.
Flights cost €820 each, or a total of €6,560, with a threenight hotel stay at the five-star Cairo Marriott Hotel coming in at around €280 per night. For one of the TDs – Mr Ryan – the accommodation bill was €633, as opposed to the €844 incurred by each of his colleagues.
Other costs for the trip included vaccinations from the Tropical Medical Bureau to the tune of €873, and subsistence claims of just over €704. These claims were made by three deputies, Mr O’Brien (€270.82), Mr Howlin (€236.09), and Mr Brophy (€97.69).
The Oireachtas said the Marriott had been chosen on the recommendation of the Irish Embassy in Cairo because of ‘the security situation… and the business to be carried out’.
Mr Ó Fearghaíl has been on multiple trips abroad this year. In February, he travelled to Edinburgh for a parliamentary commission, and in July he went to the Isle of Man for the annual ‘Tynwald ceremony’.
He also travelled to Bratislava in Slovakia in April, with the bill for the three trips combined coming to €780 – though accommodation in Scotland and Isle of Man was paid for by the hosts.
In June, Fianna Fáil’s Lisa Chambers headed to Mongolia for an ‘election observation mission’ with flights costing €1,531 and accommodation costing €678. TDs and senators get top- ups of between 60% and 80% over and above normal civil service rates for trips involving organisations such as the Council of Europe or the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
On one such four-night trip to Strasbourg in January, independent Senator Ronan Mullen made a claim of €1,034 even though his flight and hotel costs were paid by the Oireachtas.
Mr Mullen did not return calls for comment. Daily rates of subsistence can be as high as €260 a day. The practice has been questioned by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
Fianna Fáil’s Lisa Chambers went to Mongolia