IRELAND'S elected councillors spent a year visiting some 100 foreign destinations through nearly 450 trips to a variety of conferences and official functions, costing the taxpayer some €645,000.

The Sunday Tribune sought data from 33 of Ireland's main councils over a period of nearly three months. The responses highlight a busy year of foreign travel by our public representatives.

The journeys, all in 2008, have taken our local politicians to every part of the world, from Amsterdam to Argentina, Dallas to Dubai and Japan to Jerusalem.

In total, 444 individual trips were taken, as part of anything from fact finding missions to town twinnings, economic promotion to environmental understanding. And often even more.

In June 2008, six members of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council flew to Izumo, Japan, to participate in the "signing of an official Friendship Agreement". Economy flights and five nights' accommodation cost €9,222.

Another councillor, from the same authority, travelled to attend the "Cities of the Mediterranean & Intercultural Dialogue, Nicosia, Larnaca, Cyprus" for four days at a total cost of €1,095.

In Kildare, an elected representative visited London for a conference on the future of the UK bus industry; the Leitrim cathaoirleach attended New York for the Leitrim vs New York Connacht Senior Championship at a cost of €9,754.

The mayor of Limerick, a staff member and a councillor travelled to Cardiff in Wales to attend the Heineken Cup rugby final in May at a cost of €2,272 while in June, a councillor and the executive librarian went to Avila in Spain for a "ceremony of naming a street after the Irish writer Kate O'Brien".

Two delegates from Kerry County Council travelled to the US at the invitation of the Kerryman's Association at a cost of €13,251.

In Donegal, three councillors visited Flanders for an Armistice Day event costing €2,689.

However, while many of those listed – and they are just a sample of the wide variety of foreign events attended by councillors – appear unusual or even unnecessary, most councillors defend their function and importance to the role of local government.

For many, they offer opportunities to their constituencies and are far from being
'junkets' – a term routinely dismissed and queried by those compiling information for this article.

A member of Sligo county council travelled to the Dubai Telecommunications launch in December, 2008, at a cost of nearly €2,000.

Discrepancy in value

According to Limerick County Council, a total of 16 councillors attended an event in Hohenlohe, Germany, in May at a total cost of €12,793 but no explanation was offered as to what it was.

The chairman of Cavan County Council travelled with his 'partner' to both London and New York.

In November, four councillors from Wicklow went to Belgium for the "A Journey of Remembering" event marking the 10th anniversary of the inauguration of the Island of Ireland Peace Park in Flanders.

However, not all of the councils were forthcoming with releasing details of foreign travel undertaken by their members.

Cork proved the most difficult county from which to access information without relying on Freedom of Information legislation which is both costly and time consuming.

Cork City Council did not know to hand how much it had spent on foreign trips in 2008, who travelled or even where they had travelled to.

A spokeswoman suggested that a trawl of the minutes recorded from individual council meetings throughout 2008 would shed light on the degree of foreign travel undertaken by members.

In relation to costs, details of which were easily accessible in the vast majority of local authorities, she said: "The information you request is not readily available and this would take some time to compile."

Cork County Council managed to provide details of the amount of trips and destinations but would not confirm the number of councillors on trips or the amount of money spent on trips.

An application under the Freedom of Information Act was suggested.

Roscommon County Council said that outside of FOI all it would provide was a total expenditure for all conferences, seminars and training in 2008 which would include considerable activity aside from foreign travel.

Neither Louth County Council nor Waterford City Council responded to the survey despite several efforts to contact them.

The amount of money spent on foreign travel to conferences varies from council to council and can be variant on the size of the authority, the population they serve and, often, the nature of local industry and interests.

For example Fingal County Council spent the most at €52,452 with 40 individual trips. However, it is one of the largest authorities in Ireland and amongst the listed events are airport and environmental conferences.

By comparison, Westmeath County Council spent the least amount in 2008, believing it prudent to send only their cathaoirleach, and on just two trips, at a total cost of €3,582.

While the majority of functions are within Europe and the UK in particular, councillors often get the opportunity to travel further afield.

In 2008, the exotic list of destinations included Argentina, Dubai, Ethiopia, Gyor in Hungary, Istanbul, Quebec and Singapore.

It featured 17 cities and states in the US and at least 60 European destinations.

Despite the far-flung regions, councillors will argue about the benefits of such trips in improving ties and economic relationships between cities.

Amongst the most prominent are those travelling to the US for St Patrick's Day and those attending the 'twinning' ceremonies between two towns – a process that ties the identities together and promotes interactivity.

Many conferences, seminars and training exercises are designed to improve the communities represented by councillors.

For instance, a staff member and a councillor from Limerick City Council travelled to Newcastle in England in April 2008 to "meet persons involved in the regeneration of the city centre", an obviously relevant exercise in the context of current developments in Limerick.

At the World Marina Conference in Ostende, Belgium, the Wicklow cathaoirleach was asked to make a presentation in relation to the ongoing Greystones harbour project.

The above examples show that many such trips are not only value for money, but play a vital role in the development of local areas and are not taken lightly by councils.

Conference costs

Some were keen to show this. North Tipp­erary pointed out that the cost of the annual trip by its mayor and county manager to the US for St Patrick's Day did not include the bills of anyone else who travelled with them.

However the extent, context, cost and palatability of county and city councillors' annual travel is rarely addressed in a national context and, given economic realities, all such public spending is left open to scrutiny.

The €644,276 total for a year of travel is a relatively low level of expenditure, particularly when councils will tell you that the benefits outweigh the costs.

That is if you believe councils and the elected officials who are as susceptible to financial probing as their colleagues in Dáil Eireann.

Earlier this month, the Cavan-based Fianna Fáil councillor Patricia Walsh made headlines when it was revealed she had claimed €45,000 for conference attendance over five years.

"I would be far from the highest in the council going back through the years", she said.

"I went to conferences that were beneficial to me and to bring back to the community here."

Councillors have in the past accused colleagues of claiming for domestic conferences that they never attended, fuelling the debate about what they should and should not be entitled to.

A number of elected representatives have publicly stated that councillors should not attend conferences, or at the very least not be allowed to claim for them.

However, change is afoot following the announcement by environment minister John Gormley that he is to introduce limits on spending by councillors of €2,000.

Number of Individual Trips by Councillors

(Not individual destinations)

Wicklow 51
Fingal 40
Dublin City 40
Kildare 37
Limerick 26
Galway City 23
Laois 19
Kilkenny 19
Limerick City 19
Monaghan 18
Mayo 18
Donegal 16
South Dublin 16
Carlow 13
Meath 13
Clare 11
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown 10
Sligo 9
Galway 9
Leitrim 8
Waterford 7
Wexford 6
Cavan 5
South Tipperary 3
Tipperary North 2
Kerry 2
Offaly 2
Westmeath 2

TOTAL... 444

What the councils spent on travel and conferences

Fingal €52,452
Galway City €49,937
Wicklow €44,062
Mayo €41,930
Dublin City €41,480
Kildare €34,496
Meath €29,621
Limerick €29,536
Monaghan €29,499
Laois €26,494
Donegal €25,819
Limerick €25,280
Galway €22,146
South Dublin €20,979
Kilkenny €20,476
Wexford €19,906
Carlow €17,895
Clare €17,754
Waterford €15,958
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown €13,427
Kerry €13,250
Sligo €11,248
Offaly €10,828L
Leitrim €9,754
North Tipperary €6,602
Cavan €5,368
South Tipperary €4,497
Westmeath €3,582

TOTAL .... €644,276

AVERAGE €23,009

Non-Responses and incomplete

Cork City FOI request

Cork Partial response (no costs)

Roscommon General expenses for conferences (not foreign travel)

Louth No response

Waterford City No response

Destinations for council junkets

Alicante
Amsterdam
Antrim
Argentina
Athens
Australia
Austria
Barcelona
Bayonne (France)
Belfast
Belgium
Berlin
Birmingham
Bilbao
Boston
Brussels
Buffalo
Cardiff
Cesson Sevigne (France)
Chicago
China
Cleveland
Cologne
Coventry
Dallas
Denmark
Dubai
Edinburgh
Ethiopia
Flanders
France
Germany
Getafe (Spain)
Gotarrendura (Spain)
Gyor (Hungary)
Hohenlohe (Germany)
Hong Kong
Horn (Belgium)
Hungary
Istanbul
Izumo (Japan)
Jerusalem
Kansas
Krakow
Kreis Segerberg (Germany)
Kuala Lumpur
Larnaca (Cyprus)
La Rochelle
Leicestershire
Liverpool
London
Ljubljana (Slovenia)
Luton
Luxembourg
Lyon
Lytham St Annes (England)
Madrid
Malmo (Sweden)
Manchester
Maryland
Milwaukee
Miramichi (Canada)
New Brunswick
Newcastle
Newfoundland
New Haven
New York
Nicosia (Cyprus)
Northern Ireland
Odense (Denmark)
Osterhofen (Germany)
Paris
Pembrokeshire
Philadelphia
Prince Edward Island (Canada)
Pullach (Germany)
Quebec
Ravigo (Italy)
Rhodes
Rome
Roskilde
San Jose (California)
Santa Clara (California)
Scarborough
Seattle
Shanghai
Singapore
South Carolina
Stavanger (Norway)
Stockholm
Strasbourg
Stuttgart
Switzerland
Tennessee
The Hague
Tokyo
Toronto
Tyrone
Vaxjo (Sweden)
Venice
Washington DC
Wurzburg (Germany)
York