Greg Daly
Ruth Coppinger TD A prominent left-wing TD was left red-faced after questions on Government expenditure and staff deployment around August’s papal trip showed the Department of the Taoiseach is not being unduly stretched by plans for Pope Francis’s visit.
In a series of written questions, Solidarity Dublin West TD Ruth Coppinger asked the Taoiseach how many staff in his department are working on the papal visit, what the overall cost of his Department would be for the visit, and what the operating costs were for a webpage devoted to the visit.
Questions
Responding to the questions in the Dáil, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar explained that staff from the department’s protocol division are involved with several elements of the papal trip, with two other staff also involved in media elements of the visit, working closely with protocol and press staff at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Event Management Unit at the Office of Public Works (OPW).
“There will be a minimal cost to my Department for the event which Pope Francis will attend in Dublin Castle on Saturday, August 25,” he continued, explaining that the OPW will bear most State expenditure around the visit.
“The development and management of the public safety information regarding the upcoming visit of Pope Francis on gov.ie is managed by in-house resources and therefore no direct costs were incurred with these aspects,” he added, noting that the cost of translating the webpage into Irish had been €1,216.