Clare’s Junior Minister has responded to reports that Enterprise Ireland had paid 4,400 euro to fly him from the US to a personal event in Spain.
Fine Gael representative Pat Breen has issued a statement in response to a report in last weekend’s Sunday Times, saying that he had booked personal flights to attend a family wedding in Spain before he was asked by Enterprise Ireland to attend a Life Sciences trade mission.
He initially turned down their request, but later changed his his plans and was flown to Spain on tickets purchased by by the semi-state.
He later returned to Ireland on his own booking.
Renua have criticised Pat Breen, with leader John Leahy believing the taxpayer should never have footed the bill:
Minister Breen Statement:
I was asked by Enterprise Ireland to participate on its inaugural Life Sciences trade mission to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota in September 2016.
Previous to this request I had booked personal flights to attend a family wedding in Spain. The end of the Trade Mission would clash with the weekend wedding which I had already committed to attend, so I had to turn down the Enterprise Ireland invitation initially.
However as the trade mission was deemed to be of significant importance to Ireland’s indigenous life sciences sector, and would benefit from the support of a Ministerial presence, Enterprise Ireland requested that I attend and remain in the US to complete the final engagements of the visit, and then fly direct to Spain instead of Dublin.
I agreed to do the final engagements, flew directly from the US to Spain, to arrive an hour late for the family occasion. I returned to Ireland on my own ticket that I had booked ahead of the wedding.
