Socialist Party councillor Mick Barry this morning called for the abolition of the fleet of state cars used to ferry Government Ministers and ex-Taoisigh around the country as news emerged that the cost to the taxpayer this year would come to 5 million euro.
There are currently 26 cars in the fleet including 7 Mercedes, 7 Audi A6s, 3 BMW 5 Series, 4 Lexus, 2 Toyota Prius hybrids, 2 Fords and 1 Citroen C6.
The cars are driven by a team of 54 members of An Garda Siochana who work on a week on/week off basis.
Cllr Barry highlighted the case of former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern: “The taxpayer shelled out 84,000 euro last year to pay for Bertie Ahern to be driven around in a Mercedes S350. Although Mr Ahern will not be paying tax on profits from his book, taxpayers money was used to drive Mr Ahern around the country from one signing of his book to another. I’m sure this will warm the hearts of the multitudes on the dole queues who wait in fear for the axe to fall in the next round of cutbacks.”
