Serious questions were raised last month but has of yet some have gone unexplained as to why the staff at the office of the Taoiseach were spending on average over €500 a week on taxis despite their two main places of work being just yards apart.
While the department of Taoiseach has 211 full-time staff it has not been revealed how many of these staffers have the privilege to charge their taxi fares to the Taoiseach’s office expense account.
The ‘Bridge of Sighs’ as it is known, is a walkway that connects Government Buildings to Leinster House where presumably the staff at the Department of Taoiseach would traverse on foot regularly.
While the figure of over €500 is averaged over the 52 weeks of the year one could extrapolate that this figure is significantly larger during the busier months as opposed to summer and Christmas when the Dáil is on break.
The Taoiseach responded to the queries with:
“Taxis are used for official purposes where there is no other practical or suitable alternative mode of transport available…
“My Department has a taxi account for official business purposes with a company selected by the Office of Government Procurement under a Framework Agreement for services in the Greater Dublin Area, following a public tender process.
“Staff may also from time to time use other taxi providers when it is not possible to use the contracted company or they are in a location outside the contracted area or on official business abroad.
Government expenses are coming under ever greater scrutiny as the dispute between nurses and the government over pay escalates and the fiasco over the cost of the new children’s hospital.
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