NINE senior diplomats with the Department of Foreign Affairs had more than €230,000 in private schooling fees for their children paid for by the taxpayer during the past two years.

The money was to allow their sons or daughters attend mainly prestigious fee-paying schools abroad or alternatively boarding schools in Ireland.

The school-fee expense is part of a costly array of allowances made payable to diplomats, which also includes rent allowances of up to €8,000 a month.

Since the beginning of 2008, a total of €7.7m has been shared by 48 civil servants in allowances, on top of their healthy salaries.

Each of the 48 has benefitted to the tune of an average €161,107 in terms of rent, school fees, travel, entertainment and in foreign service allowances.

The expenditure covers just the costs associated with six high-profile missions in London, Washington, Paris, Rome, Sydney and Berlin.

According to the figures, the embassy in London has proved the most expensive of all with a massive €1.55m paid out in rental allowance since 2008.

That covers the cost of accommodation of just 16 people, with an average monthly rent of €4,600 being borne by the taxpayer.

Monthly rent of €8,000

The standard of property is leased according to the rank of the diplomat and it is understood that properties costing in excess of €8,000 a month are being rented for the most senior officials.

School fees of €62,750 were paid out in 2008 on behalf of three officials at the embassy in London, the equivalent of more than €20,000 each a year.

Seventeen officials there also claimed more than €128,593 in entertainment expenses during 2008, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Those officials also benefited from payments totalling €512,979 under a foreign-service allowance, the equivalent of €30,175 each.

Substantial rental payments were also made at other embassies, particularly the consulate in Sydney where €138,776 was paid out in 2008.

That covered the rent for just two officials in the Australian city, and worked out at the equivalent of €5,782 per month.

The two officials in the consulate in Sydney were also paid €36,227 in "entertainment" and a further €34,017 in a foreign service allowance.

School fees at the embassy in Washington proved a significant cost to the taxpayer with €52,443 paid out to three officials in 2009 and €40,131 in 2008.

The cost of rent for a total of eight officials came to €337,031, or the equivalent of €3,510 a month for each of their accommodation bills.

School fees for another diplomat at the embassy in Berlin were also costly, with €33,175 paid out since 2008 to that person.

Costs in 2009 are somewhat lower, with the total allowance bill declining from €4.24m last year to just €3.49m this year, explained by a combination of some cost-cutting and the fact that the figures do not cover the entire year.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has defended the high cost of providing rented accommodation, which works out at almost €4,000 a month for each official and totalled more than €3.6m for just six embassies.

By way of comparison, €4,000 would cover the lease of a six-bedroom home in the south county Dublin area of Rathmichael or a three-bedroom house on Vico Terrace, Dalkey.

The rent allowance is entirely separate to the salary and pension, which is made payable to these officials, all of third secretary grade and above.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said: "Where an officer is not provided with official residential accommodation, a rent allowance is provided to enable the officer to rent suitable residential accommodation at post.

"Rent allowance is payable on a vouched basis to officers who are serving at posts outside the state and who are liable for transfer at the end of their postings, either back to headquarters or to another post abroad.

"Rent allowances are determined by the department and have regard to local market conditions, grade and family circumstances."

The Department of Foreign Affairs also defended the payment of private schooling fees – totalling €230,628 – for the children of senior diplomats.

It said: "[The department] may, in certain circumstances, provide school fees assistance in respect of an officer's accompanying child/children who attend fee-paying primary or secondary-level education at post.

"The department must first be satisfied that it is necessary for the child to attend a fee-paying school at post and that the fees are reasonable, having regard to the level of fees charged by other suitable local fee-paying schools.

"The department's School Fees Assistance Scheme also provides assistance towards the cost of boarding-school fees in Ireland to assist officers serving abroad who wish to provide their children with continuity in their Irish primary and secondary level education."

The department said that every effort was made to keep the costs of official travel down and that public transport was used instead of taxis "where practicable".

Travel by air is usually booked in economy class.

However, that rule is waived for "certain posts involving long-haul flights". A statement said: "As an exception to this and to facilitate the host country, ambassadors designate and accompanying family members may use business-class travel when first travelling to take up duty in their country of primary accreditation."

It said that all "entertainment" costs, which totalled €818,091 since 2008, formed a "significant part of the workload of all missions".

The department said: "Rep­resentation expenditure is incurred within clearly defined departmental guidelines and also guidelines issued by the Department of Finance."

Allowance of €2.52m

Foreign service allowances of €2.52m paid out to 48 officers (€52,500 each) during the past two years were also justified by the department.

They said the purpose of these payments was to "defray certain additional expenses which officers may experience as a consequence of serving abroad".

The department said every diplomat was entitled to a cost-of-living allowance, a local-post allowance and a children's foreign allowance.