'Gravy Train Dempsey should pay back money' – Tóibín
Sinn Féin Cllr Peadar Tóibín has condemned the Transport Minister Noel Dempsey for using the Government jet and a chauffeur driven Ministerial car to get to the MacGill Summer School in Donegal last month. Minister Noel Dempsey used the government jet and his ministerial car to attend a summer school. He used the luxury Gulfstream IV jet, which costs €7,890 per hour to fly from Dublin to Derry instead. When he landed his garda driver was on hand to pick him up in his ministerial car after having driven 247km from Dublin. Cllr Tóibín said the Minister’s actions were particularly disgraceful given that he was travelling to Donegal to take part in a debate on the need to change political culture in Ireland.
Cllr Tóibín said, “There is absolutely no reason why the Minister could not have driven to Donegal and got a commercial flight to London from Derry the next day. He had plenty of time to book a flight but instead the Minister made a conscious decision to waste taxpayers’ money and indulge in the type of extravagant wastage that is the mark of his party. Also the event finished at six in the evening so there is no reason why the Minister could not have been back in Dublin that evening. He had plenty of other options open to him. The fact that the Minister was travelling to Donegal to give a 10 minute speech on the need to change political culture in Ireland makes his actions all the more sickening.
'The Minister and his colleagues cannot be allowed to swan around like lords and ladies at our expense while his constituents in Meath are grappling with ever increasing unemployment, emigration, negative equity and cancelled vital infrastructure. Gravy Train Dempsey should be made to pay back the money he has wasted just as his colleague Ivor Calelly must do.”
Cllr Tóibín said, “There is absolutely no reason why the Minister could not have driven to Donegal and got a commercial flight to London from Derry the next day. He had plenty of time to book a flight but instead the Minister made a conscious decision to waste taxpayers’ money and indulge in the type of extravagant wastage that is the mark of his party. Also the event finished at six in the evening so there is no reason why the Minister could not have been back in Dublin that evening. He had plenty of other options open to him. The fact that the Minister was travelling to Donegal to give a 10 minute speech on the need to change political culture in Ireland makes his actions all the more sickening.
'The Minister and his colleagues cannot be allowed to swan around like lords and ladies at our expense while his constituents in Meath are grappling with ever increasing unemployment, emigration, negative equity and cancelled vital infrastructure. Gravy Train Dempsey should be made to pay back the money he has wasted just as his colleague Ivor Calelly must do.”
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