FINE GAEL has promised to cut the number of state cars that ministers are given to go about their business – and would scrap the perks of former Taoisigh who are entitled to a full-time Garda driver – and replacing them with a carpooling system if it gets into government.
The party’s transport spokesman Simon Coveney made the pledge after it was revealed that the luxury cars provided to each minister, which are replaced each January, and the full-time assignment of Gardaí to drive them on ministers’ behalves has cost almost €11m in the last two years.
The cost – the equivalent of €15,000 a day – is accrued by the assignment of the cars and full-time drivers to every member of the cabinet (including the government chief whip), the President, the Ceann Comhairle, and former Taoisigh.
The costs were revealed by justice minister Dermot Ahern in response to a parliamentary question lodged by Coveney, who described the expense as “unjustified and unsustainable”.
“There can be no sacred cows when the country is in fiscal crisis, and the Government must lead by example in cutting unnecessary expenditure,” Coveney added.
“In government, Fine Gael will ensure that ‘Mercs and Ministers’ will no longer be automatically associated. While the savings will not make a dramatic impact on the Exchequer, it will send out a clear message that reform in the public service is starting from the top down.”
The only ministers who would retain the cars and the garda drivers on a full-time basis would be the Taoiseach and the Justice Minister, who would require the Garda protection for security reasons.
The pledge apes that of David Cameron who, when in opposition in the UK, told the Labour government ministers to ‘take the Tube’ as he did.
It was revealed in the UK earlier this month that many Tory ministers who travel by the London Underground still retain the use of their government cars to ferry their documents from their cabinet offices to their homes.
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