Michael Kennedy (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)

Regarding public servants' travel expenses, I share the view that public funds should be used only for stated purposes. Deputy Varadkar is very quick to criticise but I remember a time when his attendance at a conference in Malaysia was the subject of a damning article in his local paper, The Community Voice. The trip cost €3,000 then, probably €5,000 in today's terms, and the conference was on urban planning. Deputy Varadkar — then Councillor Varadkar — was quick to defend his actions stressing that, "Just because Kuala Lumpur is in Asia, it is hardly alien from Dublin 15."

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