The Health Service Executive has said that it does not plan to continue paying for taxis for staff who were relocated one mile from their old workplace in north Dublin.
Since September last year, the HSE has been paying for 24 staff who use public transport to get a taxi from their old office to their new office, and back again, every day at a cost of more than €700 a week.
The branch, based in Finglas village, relocated to a new office beside the Finglas exit of the M50.
The staff concerned had two options to reach their new workplace.
One was to take a 20-minute walk or to use four regular bus services which would leave them at a stop nine minutes' walk away.
However, the staff were not happy with these options so the HSE agreed to pay for each person's taxi journey.
The vehicles used by the taxi firm can carry up to seven passengers at a time. But because the staff work flexi-time, they can turn up anytime between 7.45am and 10am, resulting in taxis often taking just one person at a time.
The journey, which takes just over three minutes, has cost the HSE almost €22,000 since the arrangement began seven months ago.
