The car, it appears, is king when it comes to ministerial business, particularly so for those ministers in far-flung constituencies. Galway TD and Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Éamon Ó Cuív, has one of the most punishing driving schedules among senior ministers, travelling 292,800km between February 2005 and September this year - roughly 15,000km per month.
Details of the Ministerial travels were released by Minister for Justice Michael McDowell in response to a Dáil question from Green Party TD Ciaran Cuffe.
The figures suggest that on a monthly basis Cork South Central TD and Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment Micheál Martin, covers the most ground, travelling 182,400km in just over a year, or about 16,500km a month in his Volvo S80.
However, Mr Martin's Munster colleague, Minister for Defence and TD for Limerick East Willie O'Dea seems somewhat less fond of his ministerial Lexus, notching up just 62,720km over a similar period, or just 5,700kms per month.
Similarly, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism John O'Donoghue, despite hailing from the remote constituency of Kerry South, covered just 16,600km - or just over 4,160km - since taking possession of a top-of-the-range Lexus in July.
In comparison the Minister for Transport Martin Cullen spends comparatively little time on the roads, notching up just 154,400km in the two-and-a-half years to the end of September.
Another TD with a far-flung constituency, Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan, from Donegal South West, spends many hours in her car. In the year-and-a-half to the end of September she travelled 193,600km, almost 10,755km a month. Her spokesman said that it wasn't possible to use public transport or air travel due to the state-wide demands of her schedule.
A spokesman for Mr Martin defended the minister's high mileage, saying Mr Martin used his car as an office and said that the minister could not make confidential calls on public transport.
Mr Ó Cuív's spokesman explained the Minister's high mileage, saying: "The Minister lives 250km from Dublin, 60km from Galway city constituency office base, and represents comprehensively a very large and scattered constituency."
However, Mr Cuffe said the distances travelled by Ministers in their cars were an indictment of the Government.
He said the Greens would seek alternatives to the favoured marques, the Mercedes and Lexus, if part of the next Government.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern seems somewhat less keen on road travel. Since taking possession of a Mercedes S320 in March, he's covered 29,280km (just under 3,000km a month), high for the average road user, but low compared with Cabinet colleagues.
Aside from the damage to the environment, the distances Ministers cover in their cars is time consuming. Take Mr Martin for example. Allowing an average speed of 70km/h - for time in traffic and cities - to cover 16,500km a month could require over 230 hours. That is a full month's work for most of us.
