Taoiseach Escapes Blanket Mileage Cut

Taoiseach Enda Kenny will escape paying a new charge for the 'personal use' of a ministerial car.

Senior and junior ministers will now have to cut 10% from their monthly mileage bills to account for personal travel unrelated to government business.

It follows the cutback on ministerial cars as ministers now use private cars with drivers and claim monthly mileage rates.

But the Taoiseach as well as Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore and Justice Minister Alan Shatter are all still provided with a state-funded car and garda drivers for security reasons, meaning they will be exempt from the 'personal use' mileage deduction that could cost other ministers up to €1,500 a year.

Gardai sold off 17 former ministerial cars this year and since less people were made eligible for state cars and garda drivers, the annual cost has dropped by 4m.

And the new measure, where a blanket 10% is deducted from mileage claims to account for personal car use, should save even more.

A spokesperson for Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin told reporters from the Irish Independent that the change "relates to all ministers and ministers of state, excluding the Taoiseach, Tanaiste and the Minister for Justice. They don’t make any claims, so there's no reduction."

The new measures come into force on September 1.

(NE)