Vol. 403 No. 3
47 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Ordnance Survey Office have been operating a restriction on motor allowance claims that has forced officers on fieldwork to forego claims to motoring expenses, which were necessarily incurred in pursuit of their duties; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Management of the Ordnance Survey, in common with all managers in the Civil Service, has the responsibility of ensuring that the public moneys voted by Dáil Éireann to meet their running costs are expended in the most efficient and cost effective manner and that the amounts allocated for particular purposes are not exceeded.
The budget of the Ordnance Survey provides a sum to meet the motoring expenses of officers who are authorised to use their private cars in the performance of field survey duties. A portion of this is allocated to the surveyor in charge of each field survey section and the control is based essentially on a monthly allocation. In general, the section head must keep expenditure in line with the accumulated monthly profile and may not exceed his allocation without prior approval. Members of the staff who are authorised to use their private cars on official duties are also aware of the limitations on motor travel expenses.
Motor travel costs are controlled in a number of ways: work projects requiring the use of private cars are selected on the basis of proximity to the base point for calculation of mileage claims; where practical, field staff are deployed to work sites close to one another so that cars can be shared; and high mileage journeys are kept to the minimum.
If in any month the accumulated monthly profile is expected to be significantly exceeded, the use of private cars is restricted. However, in any case where the use of a private car is authorised for an official journey the appropriate mileage allowance is paid. There is no question of officers being denied their entitlements in respect of authorised journeys.
