Monthly Archives: October 2009

The Government and their jets

By far the most expensive aspect of Ministerial travel in recent years has been the use of the various government jets.
Technically, there are two, a Gulfstream IV for longer journeys and a Learjet, which is generally used for short hops around Europe.
Aside from that, the government also makes frequent use of the Beechcraft and a [...]

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The Mary Harney Expense Files

For the best part of three months, I (and a couple of other newspaper reporters, it now seems) have been trying to get details of all overseas travel expenses involving Mary Harney, the former Tanaiste and current Minister for Health.
A few weeks ago, we got our hands on the general details of her costs for [...]

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John O’Donoghue’s resignation

Eleven weeks after the first John O’Donoghue stories in the Sunday Tribune, the Ceann Comhairle announced that he would be resigning his position.
This is the text of an article we carried in the paper, which sums up my thoughts on what has happened.
IN THE end, it was John O’Donoghue’s passion for betting that proved his [...]

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John O’Donoghue and transparency

Back at the end of July around the time that the Sunday Tribune first published details of John O’Donoghue’s penchant for overseas travel, I decided it would be worth having a look at his travel records whilst Ceann Comhairle.
I submitted a standard FOI request looking for:
- details of all expense claims submitted by John O’Donoghue [...]

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