Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers has defended his trip to a US conference after a Sinn Féin TD said over €6,800 was spent on a five-star hotel stay and business class flights.
Sinn Féin TD Mairéad Farrell called Mr Chambers' expenses during the Bilderberg Conference in Washington DC a "waste of taxpayers’ money".
The Bilderberg Conference is a high-level networking event that was first established in 1954 to foster dialogue between the US and Europe.
This year’s conference was held in April and over the years has been regularly attended by Government ministers.
"When fuel protesters were on the streets here, demanding that your government intervene just so they could make ends meet, you were in Washington DC spending $760 (€652.16) a night of taxpayers’ money on a luxury, five-star hotel," Ms Farell said.
"While working families up and down the state were unable to afford to fill their tank with fuel, you were wasting their money on business class flights to the tune of $3,000," she added.
She said taxpayers deserve to know what topics were discussed at the conference which she called a "meeting of elites from big-business, media and the world of right-wing politics".
"It is a disgrace that you were on that guest list alongside the CEOs of fossil fuel companies, arms manufacturers and military technology companies," she said.
Mr Chambers said AI, Arctic security, digital finance, energy diversification, Europe, global trade and the Middle East were discussed.
He said the event is an "important opportunity to engage with the international political and business community on Ireland’s foreign direct investment potential".
"The Deputy and her party fully understand, in the context of the party's participation in the Executive in the north, the importance of international engagement, foreign direct investment and engagement with the business community," he added.
Mr Chambers said his role was to promote Ireland, "engage with many people who invest here and also political leaders in Europe and elsewhere".
"It is important, as an open, trading economy that we do that," he said, adding that Deputy Farrell's approach "undermining international engagement" is "not fair".
