Government spent €17,000 on accommodation during World Economic Forum
Ken Foxe
The Department of Foreign Affairs spent almost €17,000 on accommodation for the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Switzerland and nearly €15,000 on flights for a diplomat and family members posted overseas.
The department also ran up an accommodation bill of just under €13,000 for hotel rooms during the COP30 climate conference in Brazil and paid over €7,000 for an 18-night stay at a swish New York hotel.
The nightly cost of the room in New York was close to €400 for a staff member to stay at the four-star Shelburne Sonesta during the UN General Assembly.
In total, the department spent almost €4.2 million on flights last year, with a further €2.58 million paid for hotels and accommodation.
Some of the largest individual bills included a payment of €16,645 to Hodel Immobilien, a rental agency based in the Swiss capital Bern.
It covered the cost for official attendance at the annual WEF conference in Davos, during which accommodation costs are notoriously high.
More than €6,000 was spent on a hotel in Sydney for three officials to attend a conference on passport security. The staff stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel for six nights in deluxe rooms with a “partial harbour view.”
An information note said attendance helped “ensure the Irish passport reflects the most recent security and anti-fraud technology”.
The department said business class flights were used for one journey involving Australia due to the “extreme long-distance location”.
Invoices included €14,778 for a diplomat and family members to travel with Qatar Airways and another bill with the same airline for €10,395 covering economy-class travel.
A separate accommodation bill totalling €12,873 was paid for accommodation for Irish public servants attending the COP30 climate conference in Brasilia.
Department records showed that money was paid to a real estate company in the Brazilian capital, which rents out apartments.
A further €11,331.34 was spent on accommodation for attendance at the UN Ocean Conference in Nice last year.
Asked about the expenditure, a spokesperson said: “The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade by the nature of its international work undertakes a significant amount of international travel and uses hotel accommodation in meeting the objectives set in its Strategic Plan.
“The Department complies with [Dept of Public Expenditure] policies and procedures in relation to international travel and attendance at meetings and events.”
