Spending on hospitality by the Stormont executive was at least £1.4m in the first ten months after the institutions were restored nearly a year ago.
The “eye-watering” sum is revealed against a backdrop of funding shortages across Northern Ireland’s public services.
The freshly-published figures for each department and their associated quangos were released in response to a series of written assembly questions from TUV MLA Timothy Gaston.
The North Antrim representative said that while hospitality has its place, the sums were “grossly excessive”.
He also lamented the incomplete picture of hospitality spending.
The Executive Office’s answer to Mr Gaston’s question is more than two weeks’ overdue, so its hospitality costs, along with those of associated arm’s length bodies such as the Strategic Investment Board Limited and Maze/Long Kesh Development Corporation, remain under wraps.
The Department of Justice response is also incomplete, as it said it was unable to provide figures for arms length bodies that include the PSNI, the Criminal Justice Inspection, and the Policing Board.
While the figures reveal that hospitality spend by a number of departments was substantial, in many cases their outlay on food, drink and entertainment for staff, customers and clients is dwarfed by their arm’s length bodies, such as Invest NI and NI Water.
Invest NI, which last year spent an average of more than £36,000-a-month on hospitality, accounts for more than one quarter of the Stormont executive total.
The economic development body’s sponsoring Department for the Economy (DfE), led by Conor Murphy, spent £21,500 over ten months.
Invest NI said the nature of its role required it to host and organise events.
NI Water, a government-owned company sponsored by the Department of Infrastructure, spent £58,200 over ten months.
Officials at Mike Nesbitt’s Department of Health ran up an overall “wining and dining” bill of £70,000 between February and November last year, while their counterparts at Andrew Muir’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Development’s corresponding spend was in the region of £60,000.
But the quangos associated with Mr Nesbitt’s department, which include the Public Health Agency and five regional trusts, spent a total of £375,000.
Naomi Long’s Department of Justice spent £32,600 and Paul Givan’s Department of Education £27,500, with a further £59,000 spent by its arm’s length bodies.
The Department of Finance, headed by Caoimhe Archibald spent the least, with an equivalent hospitality budget of £10,000, while the Department for Infrastructure, led by her Sinn Féin colleague John O’Dowd, spent £15,600.
DUP minister Gordon Lyons’ Department for Communities spent £125,000 but failed break down the costs between the department and its associated quangos.
Mr Gaston told The Irish News that he wasn’t “arguing that there isn’t a place for hospitality”.
“It is only reasonable to expect that when a meeting takes place those involved might have a cup of tea and a biscuit but there should be moderation in all things, particularly when it comes to public money,” he said.
“With a total spend across the departments and arm’s length bodies which have provided figures of over £1.4 million since the return of devolution yet more people will question the value for money of the system.”
A DfE statement said its expenditure on hospitality was “only incurred when in direct support of the department’s business” and included items such as working lunches and dining for visitors, all of which must needed to be pre-approved.
It said its costs represented value for money.
A Daera statement said that in the period covered, approximately 60% of its hospitality spend was for the purpose of events held by Cafre, including student open days, graduation ceremonies and other engagement events.
