First Minister says 'I don't seek out five star hotels' - after Opposition leader probes ministers' spending on foreign trips

​Matthew O’Toole contrasted the spend to one of Michelle O’Neill’s ministerial colleagues citing austerity when declining to spend £5,000 to pedestrianise a Belfast street – and asked the Sinn Fein leader if she had stayed in any five star establishments at the taxpayer’s expense.

The First Minister said that “somebody in our office will do the logistics” – saying she doesn’t “interfere with any of that business”.

However, she also said that value for money should be top of the agenda and that is “a principle that I adhere to on any of the travel that I make”.

Earlier this month, the Belfast Telegraph reported that the cost of sending ministers and their staff on overseas trips in the last year was just under £220,000.

That included stays in five-star hotels for some, at a time when Stormont’s finances are stretched.

The issue was raised during First Minister’s questions in the Assembly on Monday by the opposition leader.

Mr O’Toole said: “First Minister, you and your ministerial colleagues have been consistent, persistent even, in blaming austerity, understandably, for constraints on public spending, right down to small sums of money.

“Your colleague, the infrastructure minister, said the £5000 pedestrianisation of Hill Street couldn't happen because of austerity. In that context, are you comfortable with your colleagues spending tens of thousands of pounds on five star hotels?

"And First Minister, have you since you've been in this role, stayed in a five star hotel, a taxpayer expense?”

Ms O’Neill responded: “When it comes to public money, people should always be very, very prudent with public money. And everything needs to be value for money and needs to be proofed, and you need to stand over every decision that is taken. And I do not seek out five star hotels. I do not seek out to waste public money”.

Mr O’Toole said the first minister may not seek out five star hotels, but cited an example of accommodation used by the former Sinn Fein economy minister Conor Murphy.

The SDLP MLA said Mr Murphy had stayed in the Fullerton Hotel in Singapore, “which says on its website, that it reflects the full blown colonial confidence of its builders.

“It cost more than £6000 for him to stay there, much more than the cost of pedestrianising Hill Street. We all agree that austerity was bad First Minister, but I asked you a specific question. Are you comfortable with your ministerial colleagues staying in five star hotels? And have you stayed in a five star hotel at taxpayer expense since you've been in this role? It's quite a straightforward question”.

The First Minister said she had “no idea of what star of a hotel I've stayed in”.

“I don't interfere with any of that business. Somebody in our office will do the logistics, and that's fine. But what I will say is that I am very conscious of being prudent with public money, and when ministers have a job to do... to travel the world, to sell our wares, to create investment here” she said.