Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

Many people will have heard RTE's report this morning on the figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, showing that €560,000 was spent last year on the trips by Ministers for St. Patrick's Day. Quoting figures spent abroad does not always do service to the work that can be done. Nonetheless, anyone listening to this morning's report would recognise the excess. If the same attention to detail and standards was paid by Ministers to our public services, they would serve the public well. As regards the trips abroad, I want to mention the Taoiseach's visit to the United States this year, where he plans to attend a dinner with a sexist all-male organisation the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, based in Lackawanna, Pennsylvania——