MOBILE phones used by the political staff of the Rainbow Coalition have cost the taxpayer about £80,000. This new apparatus of open, transparent and accountable government, which was introduced with programme managers and the biggest political staff ever in 1992, is the indispensable status symbol of this administration.
Anyone who is anyone now possesses a mobile phone, according to a series of answers to Fianna Fail's "mobile armed chief whip, Mr Dermot Ahern, in the Dail yesterday.
The cost of mobile phones bears most heavily, of, course, on the Taoiseach's Office, in his bid to conduct all his business behind a pane of glass. The bill for the 12 mobile phones carried by the political staff of the Taoiseach and his three Ministers of State amounts to £20,008.
The greatest revelation for journalists in the Dail replies was that the Government Press Secretary, Mr Shane Kenny, incurred the biggest bill of £4,152 for his mobile, car phone and fax.
The head of the Government Information Services, Mr John Foley, ran up a bill of £2,114, while the assistant Government Press Secretary, Mr Tony Heffernan, incurred costs of £855.
Next to the Taoiseach, the Minister for Education, Ms Breathnach, rates highest in the mobile phone expenses league. The total cost to her Department for five phones is £10,484.97. The Minister for Defence and the Marine, Mr Barrett, incurred costs of £9,869.
Next in the billing order are: Environment £6,044; Finance £4,704.92; Agriculture, Food and Forestry £4,355; Enterprise and Employment £3,962.03; Health £3,901; and Equality and Law Reform £3,100. The Minister for Tourism and Trade incurred costs of £2,338.82; Social Welfare £1,952; and Justice £1,0,52.45.
The Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Spring, spent £2,39,4, purchasing of mobiles for his political staff but, in the reply, simply mentioned that the average monthly costs, inclusive of rental charges, amounted to £77.
