Almost a combined €75,000 was spent by IDA Ireland and the Department of Foreign Affairs in connection with events and trips as part of this year's St Patrick's Day festival.
Figures from the Department of Foreign Affairs show a bill of €47,133 was racked up in respect of overseas trips taken by three Government ministers for St Patrick's Day 2023.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin’s trip to New York and Boston, for which he was joined by three staffers, totalled €23,568, which included €3,702 for Mr Martin’s business-class flights.
Car hire for the trip amounted to €7,340, while the six-night stay in New York resulted in a €2,531 hotel bill for the Tánaiste and €1,516 for each of the three staffers.
Minister of State with responsibility for international development and Diaspora Sean Fleming also paid a visit to Brazil for St Patrick’s Day, with the trip totalling €17,349 for the junior minister and two staffers.
The amount included €8,630 on business-class flights for both Mr Flemming and his private secretary, and economy flights worth €1,839 for the department’s counsellor, as well as €496 apportioned under ‘gifts (including shamrock)’.
The department also paid €6,215 in respect of Minister of State for European Affairs Peter Burke’s St Patrick’s Day trip to Italy and the Hold See.
The mission, which also included two staffers, saw economy-class flights and hotel accommodation for the three total €3,271, and a gift/shamrock spend of just €33.
Global Ireland
Commenting on the figures, the department said: “This year’s St Patrick’s Day 2023 programme saw the widest yet engagement by Ireland with ministers reaching out to partner governments and Irish communities on every continent. In all, 36 representatives of the State brought Ireland’s message to 74 cities in 44 countries.”
The department added that St Patrick’s Day offers “an unmatched opportunity to promote Ireland abroad” and is an important part of the Government’s ‘Global Ireland’ strategy.
Meanwhile, over the same St Patrick's Day period, IDA Ireland spent a total of €27,317, records up to July show.
The figures, supplied under a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, reveal €13,818 was spent on flights and €9,850 on hotel accommodation by the agency concerning trips and events around this year’s St Patrick’s Day.
A further €735 was spent on transfer costs, while €2,767 was listed under ‘Subsistence’ and €145 was expensed as ‘Other’.
IDA Ireland is responsible for promoting foreign direct investment (FDI) in Ireland, and in a statement accompanying the figures said: “To achieve this, IDA Ireland undertakes marketing activity across the globe of which the St Patrick’s Day campaign is an important element.”
It added that some of IDA Ireland’s activities over this year’s St Patrick’s Day period included media and client engagements.
The media engagements saw IDA Ireland’s interim chief executive Mary Buckley interviewed on NYSE TB and Bloomberg Radio and TV.
Meanwhile, the client engagements included meetings with “C Suite Executives in client and target companies”, as well as hosting “decision makers within client companies at a range of St Patrick’s Day events over the period”.
