Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 7 Nov 1991

Vol. 412 No. 3

Written Answers. - Ministerial Visits Abroad.

Bernard Allen

Question:

93 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will outline in respect of visits made outside the State by him (a) the number to date this year, (b) the destinations involved, (c) the routes taken, (d) the purpose of the visits, (e) the total cost, (f) those who accompanied him on each visit and (g) the airline which was used on each visit.

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Collins)

Since 1 January 1991 I have made the following visits outside the State:

Date(s)	Destination	Purpose
4 January	Luxembourg	EC Foreign Ministers Meeting
9-12 January	Turkey	Official Visit
11 January	Geneva	EC/UN Meeting
13-14 January	Bulgaria	Official Visit
14 January	Brussels	EC Foreign Ministers Meeting
17 January	Paris	EC Foreign Ministers Meeting
19-20 January	London	Meeting with Federation of Irish Societies
29-30 January	Oslo	Funeral of King Olaf
4 February	Brussels	EC General Affairs Council
5-10 February	Egypt	Official Visit
11-16 February	Germany	Official Visit
19 February	Luxembourg	European Political Co-operation Meeting
20-26 February	India	Official Visit
10 March	London	Meeting with Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
11-17 March	U.S.A.	St. Patricks Day Celebrations
18-19 March	Managua' Nicaragua	San Jose Group/EC Meeting
20-24 March	Mexico	Official Visit
26-27 March	Luxembourg	EC Foreign Ministers Meeting
8 April	Luxembourg	Special European Council
9 April	Belfast	Anglo-Irish Conference
15 April	Luxembourg	EC General Affairs Council
26 April	London	Anglo-Irish Conference
27-28 April	Luxembourg	Informal EC Foreign Ministers Meeting and Rio Group Meeting
10-11 May	Luxembourg	EC-Gulf Co-operation Council
13-14 May	Brussels	EC General Affairs Meeting
15-20 May	Japan	Official Visit
29-30 May	Luxembourg	EC/Asean Meeting
2-3 June	Dresden	EC Informal Foreign Ministers Meeting
4-5 June	Paris	OECD Meeting
6-9 June	Austria	Official Visit
14 June	London	Anglo-Irish Conference
16 June	Luxembourg	EC General Affairs Council
18-20 June	Berlin	Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe
20-21 June	London	Prime-Ministerial Meeting
23 June	Luxembourg	EC Conclave
23-27 June	Rome	Cardinal Daly Elevation
28-29 June	Luxembourg	European Council
10 July	The Hague	EPC Ministerial Meeting
20-23 July	USSR	Official Visit
24-28 July	Iceland	Official Visit
29 July	Brussels	EC General Affairs Council
6 August	The Hague	EC Foreign Ministers Meeting
20 August	The Hague	EC Foreign Ministers Meeting
27 August	Brussels	EC Foreign Ministers Meeting
3 September	The Hague	EC Foreign Ministers Meeting
6 September	Brussels	EC Foreign Ministers Meeting
7 September	The Hague	EC/Yugoslav Peace Conference
7-9 September	Switzerland	Europe Day Celebrations
9-11 September	Moscow	Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe Meeting
14-28 September	USA	UN General Assembly and Consular Visits
18-21 September	The Hague	EC Foreign Ministers Meeting
30 September	Brussels	EC General Affairs Council
5-6 October	Utrecht	Informal EC Ministerial Meeting
7-8 October	Lithuania	Official Visit
8 October	Bonn	Meeting with German Parliamentary Group
8-9 October	Latvia	Official Visit
9-10 October	Estonia	Official Visit
17 October	London	Anglo-Irish Conference
21 October	Luxembourg	EC/EFTA Negotiations
28 October	Luxembourg	Inter-Governmental Conference Meeting
1 November	Belfast	Inspection of International Fund for Ireland Projects
3/4 November	Brussels	EC General Affairs Meeting

A large proportion of the travel costs arising from the above journeys are charged to the official accounts of our missions abroad. Owing to the deferred accounting system in operation in my Department in regard to expenditure by missions, it is not practicable to provide complete and individual costings for each of the above journeys.

On four of the above occasions I accompanied the Taoiseach on foreign business. I accompanied the President to Norway to attend the funeral of the late King Olaf. On these and on each other occasion, I was accompanied by the departmental official(s) relevant to the area of responsibility covered by the visit and, where necessary, by my wife who travelled in a representational capacity. On all but three occasions, when logistical arrangements dictated otherwise, I travelled by Government plane, using routes designated by the requirements of efficiency and air traffic control. The commercial airlines used were British Airways, Swiss Air and Japan Airlines.