Irish State Spent 1m On Cars For A Select Group Of Drivers In 2017
According to new figures provided by the Minister for Justice, Charlie Flanagan, the Irish State Spent over 1m on cars for a small select group of government officials and their drivers in 2017.
The budget for State cars and drivers was for high officials such as the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, President Michael D Higgins and other high-ranking government and state members.
That is, who reveals that €200,698 was set aside for Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar’s State car and driver costs in 2017.
Last year €197,005 was provided for the official state car of the President, Michael D Higgins and his drivers.
The budget also covered funding for the state car and driver for the office of Tanáiste as well.
The scheme also provides for a State car and driver for the office of Tanáiste. These costs for the Tanaiste car and driver were shared with Dept of Justice, Dept of Business Enterprise and Innovation and Dept of Foreign Affairs.
Over the year, the combined costs for those three departments came to a total of €278,000.
In addition to the expenses mentioned above, €179,841 was set aside for a car and driver for the office of Chief Justice.
The office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the DPP also benefited from the million euro budget. The amount set aside for their State car and driver was €186,958.
Minister Flanagan said that the total costs include an estimate for payroll costs of drivers, running costs and capital costs where applicable. The Minister also said that a car and driver are also provided for the State Pathologist and the Deputy State Pathologist when they are called to cases outside Dublin and the cost for that last year was €29,708. So far this year to December 10 the cost for this was €25,386. Minister Flanagan stated:
“The current service provider was selected through a procurement process undertaken in conjunction with the Office of Government Procurement... A previous arrangement for the provision of a driver to the Officer of the Inspector was discontinued in 2016.”
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