GOVERNMENT departments and state bodies spent €3.2m on taxi travel in the past three years.

The extravagance stopped only this year when some departments cut their taxi budget in half, in an effort to curb expenditure.

Some departments were routinely amassing six-figure annual taxi bills, but the recession has seen some bills cut to just a third of their previous levels.

"The ministers in charge of these departments have obviously now issued directives on transport but clearly at the height of the bubble, it was just a case of spend, spend, spend with no questions asked," said Fine Gael's Fergus O'Dowd.

At the Department of Finance, civil servants amassed a bill of €117,350 in 2007, yet in 2009 so far have spent only €16,109.

The Department of the Taoiseach had a bill of almost €100,000 in 2007, but in the first five months of this year, spending was down to €23,081.

Agencies under the department's aegis have also cut their costs, with the National Forum of Europe spending €5,852 on taxis in 2008 and just €959 until the end of May.

At the Department of Enterprise, the taxi bill has also been halved, falling from a high of €56,238 in 2008 to just €9,082 this year so far.

"The use of taxis by officials is constantly kept under review by the department and in light of the current economic situation officials of the department/offices of the department have been urged to curtail where possible their use of taxis for official purposes and to use public transport facilities wherever possible," a statement said.

At the Department of Foreign Affairs, the annual taxi bill in 2008 was €269,750. Expenditure there on official travel in taxis continues apace; from January to May, the department spent a total of €79,254 of taxpayers' money on taxi travel. At overseas missions, the taxi bill in 2007 was €189,625 and so far this year has amounted to €56,577.

"Taxi policy is based on the principle that taxi use by officers should only take place where it is clearly required for the conduct of official business," a statement said. "The policy provides that taxis may be used for official business when public transport is not available or feasible and when officers are required, because of work or official travel commitments, to travel early in the morning or late at night".