Over €1 million was spent on new automobiles by the Department of Foreign Affairs in the previous year, with €335,000 going towards armoured vehicles for usage in dangerous situations, reports RTE.
A Toyota Land Cruiser 300 GXR for usage in Abuja, Nigeria, was the item with the highest charge, according to Freedom of Information (FOI) data, for €168,106.
The car, which was acquired for security reasons, cost almost €163,000 when it was bought from a Toronto dealership and over €4,500 was spent on shipping it to Africa.
An armoured Land Cruiser of the same kind was purchased for the Irish Representative Office located in Ramallah, Palestine, reports RTE.
The last vehicle used there was turned in for little over €32,000, and the black utility vehicle was purchased from the United Arab Emirates for €85,569 in total.
In the Colombian city of Bogotá, at the Irish Embassy, a third, very special Land Cruiser was bought.
When it was bought in November of last year, the Department of Foreign Affairs presented receipts that showed that it cost little over €81,000, reports RTE.
Two more Land Cruisers, each costing around €58,000, were purchased for diplomats stationed in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and Dakar, Senegal, for usage in West Africa.
The largest expenditure in less hazardous circumstances was €54,967 for a hybrid Lexus RX vehicle for the Wellington Embassy in New Zealand.
A Volvo S60 Hybrid was acquired for €46,148 by Ireland’s diplomatic presence in Bangkok, Thailand, while another Volvo Hybrid was purchased for €41,055 in Frankfurt, Germany, reports RTE.
A departmental expense record also included a €40,591 BYD Denza Electric to be utilised in Beijing and a €41,000 Toyota Camry Hybrid for Prague.
For a total of €75,958, seven old automobiles were traded in and a variety of new cars were purchased.
These vehicles were utilised for often hundreds-mile trips during the working day and nights, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs, reports RTE.
They added that a variety of issues, such as public transportation choices, security concerns, temperature, topography, and safety, were taken into account while choosing automobiles.
An information note said: “[They] are used for as long as they can be operated in a safe and efficient manner without excessive maintenance costs or substantial reduction in their trade-in value.”
They stated that replacements were only made when the car was beyond its useful life, when it was required by the company, or when maintaining it would be too expensive.
The agency stated that while they were dedicated to using more fuel-efficient models where it was practicable, they acknowledged that certain missions were operating in challenging conditions where “security and health and safety issues” took precedence, reports RTE.
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