Taxpayers paid more than $16,000 for Mayor Justin Bibb and other top Cleveland-area officials to take a four-day economic development trip to Ireland last month, records recently obtained by Ideastream Public Media show.
The group was on the first direct flight between Cleveland and Dublin, operated by Irish airline AerLingus the departed Cleveland Hopkins International Airport on May 17. Bibb and others met with local government officials and business owners in Ireland as part of a mission to build relationships and tout Cleveland as a tourism destination for Dubliners, officials said.
The trip cost $2,696.08 per person, records from the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County show.
The City of Cleveland paid the way for Bibb and his Chief of Staff Chief of Staff Ryan Puente, including $1,262.15 for each person's flight and $1,433.93 for hotels, transportation and meals.
Cleveland City Council paid the same for President Blaine Griffin's travel. While Cuyahoga County paid for Executive Chris Ronayne's trip and that of top aide David Razum. County Council footed the bill for President Pernel Jones.
"We've really got something to offer those coming from Ireland, and certainly Ireland has something to offer us," Ronayne told Ideastream. "It's a really impressive country on the move."
Day 1 of our time in Ireland begins in Achill, the birthplace of an estimated 250,000 Cleveland residents whose origin story starts here. Today, we proudly unveiled a plaque commemorating our long connection to this special place. pic.twitter.com/HdVVnlWq75
— Mayor Justin M. Bibb (@MayorBibb) May 20, 2023
Ronayne said the trip included "very intense business days," meeting with small and mid-size business owners looking for hubs to expand to in the United States, with Cleveland as a potential site. He described other relationship-building opportunities with local government officials like the Lord Mayor of Dublin and the re-establishment of twin-city status with Achill, which was formerly a twin city with Cleveland in the early 2000s.
Ronayne said the six-and-a-half-hour direct flight, which operates four days a week, will open new opportunities for business travel, cultural development and family connections.
Bibb told Ideastream in the past month, he's already run into people from Dublin touring Cleveland. Bibb, who maintains a fairly packed travel schedule, justified the out-of-country trip as "pitching Cleveland" to the rest of the world.
"This is a big reason why I can’t sell the city behind my desk every day at City Hall," he said. "As the nation's second poorest city, we need to have a work, wages and wealth agenda and that requires going on the road."
