Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield was yesterday attacked for racking up a bill of thousands of dollars by taking five Ministry staff on a trip to an agricultural show in the Caribbean.

However, the Minister justified the excursion by insisting her Civil Service companions had helped pick up vital contacts and ideas — and that each had a valid reason to attend.

The Permanent Secretary, the Director of Parks, an assistant park planner, an agricultural technician and a personal assistant all accompanied Ms Butterfield on her six-day visit to the Denbigh show in Jamaica last August.

On a similar excursion to the six-day 40th annual Cayman Islands Agricultural Show in February, the Minister was joined by the Director of Parks, the personal assistant and a livestock technician.

Opposition MPs say the total bill to the taxpayers of the two trips — $35,000 — was unnecessarily inflated by Ms Butterfield’s entourage.

It comes after Premier and Tourism Minister Ewart Brown faced criticism when it was revealed he and his entourage clocked up more than $280,000 in overseas travel expenses over a ten-month period.

Dr. Brown could not be contacted over the weekend and did not reply to a request for a comment yesterday.

But Shadow Environment Minister Cole Simons said his own bosses at Bank of Bermuda operated a more frugal strategy to business trips than the Ministry of Environment. “The chairman of the Bank of Bermuda — he doesn’t travel with an entourage.

“On occasions, he might take a colleague with him. The same should apply to the Ministry. We are supposed to be rationalising,” said Mr. Simons.

“From a business point of view, I have to give justification to the bank over how every trip improves our revenue. In a similar light, what is the business justification for this?

“It could be excessive to take a whole team to the agricultural show like that. A Permanent Secretary could have been efficient.”

Opposition finance spokeswoman Patricia Gordon-Pamplin added: “Was it necessary for the Minister of the Environment to go to agricultural shows in Jamaica and Cayman? Was it necessary for her to take an entourage of three or four officials with her? What job did her personal assistant do at these exhibitions?”

Responding yesterday, Ms Butterfield said: “Each year the shows get bigger and bigger. We learn from the people who organise them, and they learn from us.

“We not only exchange ideas but implement them as well — such as the garden boxes scheme which has been used successfully by some of our schools.

“Each representative’s presence there has been rewarding as we network together from agriculture to horticulture, from cows to goats and from produce to entertainment.”Asked about the role played by personal assistant Beverley Tavares, who went on both trips at a combined cost of $6,300, Ms Butterfield said: “There are items she was needed for such as meetings, presentations, schedules, transportation and other organisational matters.”

The Minister added that, on similar trips to Bermuda, the Cayman Islands brought nine delegates and Trinidad and Tobago 14.

Director of Parks Lisa Dawn Johnston, who attended both trips at a total of $5,500, said they had been a valuable experience.

“We pick up so many different ideas, from demonstration lectures we can hold to shrinking the size of our tickets. It doesn’t sound much but it all adds up in different ways to help the environment,” said Ms Johnston.

“We take people with different areas of speciality. The show is across a very large area and a lot of workshops go on at the same time and it’s impossible for people to be in so many places at the same time.

“We also felt it was important to expose some of our younger employees to what happens in the agriculture industry.”

In the ten-month period, Ms Butterfield and her companions spent $63,468 on four trips, also including a Caribbean environment programme event and Bermuda International Business Association’s annual London roundtable.

The total cost of the Jamaica trip was $16,752. Ms Butterfield, Ms Tavares and Ms Johnston were joined by: then Permanent Secretary Wayne Carey, whose costs came to $2,674; assistant park planner Jameka Kelly, cost $2,032; and agricultural technician Omari Dill, cost $1,957.

The Caymans trip was $19,081. Ms Butterfield, Ms Tavares and Ms Johnston were accompanied by livestock technician Caroldey Douglas, whose costs came to $3,703.

Ms Butterfield’s individual expenses on the Jamaica trip came to $5,843 and for the Caymans trip $7,676.