Councillors’ trip to ‘big apple’ costs taxpayer €15,000
The trip was made for ST Patrick's Day earlier this year
THE COST of a trip to New York City by a delegation of Carlow County Councilors and a council staff member for St Patrick’s Day earlier this year cost about €15,000, a freedom of information (FOI) request by revealed.
Cllrs Paul Doogue, Ben Ward and Dan Pender and a director of service, Pádraig O’Gorman, went to New York over St Patrick’s day, representing the council.
The FOI revealed that the flights cost €3,921; the hotel accommodation €6,064; Ireland airport transfers €420; and the New York transfers, €940.
In terms of expenses for each of the councillors, Ben Ward’s came to €692.87, Paul Doogue’s to €852.59 and Dan Pender’s was €554.39. Mr O’Gorman said that he had not submitted his expenses when the FOI was submitted but his had come to around €1,500.
All three councilors said that they did not book their flights or accommodation, neither did they plan the trip’s itinerary as that was all done by council staff. Mr O’Gorman said that the council had used local travel agents Tully’s to make the arrangements.
Mr O’Gorman said that his expenses were high because he personally paid for several meals when he was hosting with other dignitaries on behalf of the council in New York and that he then claimed back when he got home.
He also explained that when going away on state business you are allocated a maximum expense amount for each day that you are abroad which varies country by country and if you exceed that amount, you have to pay the difference yourself.
Mr Doogue said that his expenses were higher than the other councillors as Mr Ward and Mr Pender had both misplaced their receipts when paying New York’s tourist tax, so their expense claim was included with Mr Doogue’s. Mr Pender agreed with what Mr Doogue said about the tourist tax, while Mr Ward said that he had paid for the tourist tax himself.
In terms of why the New York transfers came to €940, all four men on the trip said that they were not aware why it had cost so much. Mr Pender said that council officials had organised their transport but he trusted that they had “selected the best available option”.
While there, they undertook a number of engagements including meeting with Vicki McDermott, an official at the Consulate General of Ireland, New York, where they discussed the importance of continued support for the undocumented Irish community. They also had meetings with Tourism Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, the managing director of UNUM New York and the New York Carlow Association in addition to representing Carlow in the New York St Patrick’s Day parade.
There had been some controversy among the councilors over the trip before it took place as some had expressed reservations about endorsing a trip to the USA under president Donald Trump. Cllr Adrienne Wallace submitted a motion to the council in February calling for the councilors to boycott the trip. The motion failed, though cllrs John Cassin, Jim Deane and Andy Gladney voted in favour of it.
