MORE THAN €1,000 was spent on hiring a car when Minister for Health Mary Harney attended a one-day emergency swine flu meeting for EU health ministers in Luxembourg in April.
Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show that more than €1,400 was spent on minibus hire during a separate Council of Ministers trip to Luxembourg in June.
A spokesman for Ms Harney said arrangements for vehicles were made by Ireland’s permanent representative in Brussels and the costs were reimbursed by the relevant department, in this case the Department of Health.
“The distance between Luxembourg and Brussels is 110 miles,” the spokesman said. “It was common practice on behalf of all Government departments for vehicles used for ministerial transport in Luxembourg to be sourced in Brussels.
“The arrangement offered advantages in relation to flexibility of planning which was sought to negate the disadvantage of mileage costs, especially on multi-day events. In the case of the one-day emergency health meeting on April 30th, the mileage cost was €496.”
On the first trip to Luxembourg, a vehicle was hired for 14½ hours for €580. The cost for hire and mileage, at €1 a kilometre, came to €1,076.
On the second trip, a vehicle was hired for 6½ hours on June 8th and 12 hours on June 9th for €740. The charge for mileage from Brussels to Luxembourg and back was €561. A night’s hotel accommodation at €125, presumably for the driver of the vehicle, brought the bill to €1,426.
The accommodation bill for Ms Harney and three others at Le Royal Hotel in Luxembourg was €912 for one night.
Meanwhile, €860 was spent on a hotel suite for Ms Harney during a trip to Helsinki, Finland.
The total bill for Hotel Glo came to €2,334, including “de-luxe” rooms for three others travelling with the Minister costing about €490 for each room over the two nights. During this trip, €1,195 was spent on car hire.
According to a draft version of the programme for the trip, among Ms Harney’s engagements were visits to various health facilities and meetings with senior Finnish health personnel.
