Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 6 Oct 1993

Vol. 434 No. 2

Written Answers. - Official Visits Abroad.

Bernard Allen

Question:

324 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade the number of visits he has made abroad since taking up office; the destination, date and duration of these visits; the purpose of these visits; the number of officials and others who accompanied him; the airline used on each visit; and the overall cost of each visit.

Minister for Tourism and Trade (Mr. McCreevy)

The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the following tabular form.

No.	Destination	Date of Departure	Duration of visit	Purpose	†Number of officials and others	Airline used by Minister	Total cost to the Department
							£
1.	Brussels‡	8-02-93	1 day	Internal Market Council	4	*	1,140
2.	New York/Boston	9-02-93	5 days	Bord Fáilte Workshops	2	*British Airways US Air Shuttle	1,237
3.	Berlin	6-03-93	3 days	International Tourism Exchange Fair	3	*	780
4.	England	13-03-93	6 days	Combined Trade and Tourism promotional visit	3	Aer Lingus	833
5.	Luxembourg‡	4-04-93	1 day	Internal Market Council	6	*	2,306
6.	Hong Kong/China	10-04-93	10 days	Trade Mission to Hong Kong and China	5	Aer Lingus Cathay Pacific China Airlines	13,624
7.	Brussels‡	9-05-93	2 days	General Affairs Council	3	*	702
8.	Denmark‡	14-05-93	1 day	Informal Meeting of Internal Market Ministers	3	*	405
9.	Malaysia	26-05-93	5 days	Accompanying Taoiseach on official visit incorporating Trade Mission	3	*	3,321
10.	Chicago/Mexico	10-06-93	10 days	Official opening “Look is Ireland” Trade Fair Chicago and Trade Mission to Mexico	5	Aer Lingus American Airlines Mexican Airlines	9,132
11.	Brussels‡	2-07-93	1 day	General Affairs Council	4	*Aer Lingus	1,460
12.	Brussels‡	19-07-93	1 day	General Affairs Council	4	Aer Lingus British Airways	3,420
13.	Brussels‡	20-09-93	1 day	Trade and Agriculture Council	3	*	**
14.	Czech Republic/ Slovakia/Austria	21-09-93	3 days	Ministerial Mission to Prague, Vienna and Bratislava	3	*Austria Airlines	**
15.	Brussels‡	27-09-93	1 day	Internal Market Council	3	*	850
16.	France-Deauville	01-10-93	3 days	Top Resa Travel Fair	3	*	**
17.	Luxembrough‡	04-10-93	1 day	General Affairs Council	3	*	**

* Government jet used.

NB In the case of some of the above trips additional costs were incurred by the State bodies under my aegis.

** Final costs not yet available.

†Does not include agency officials and accompanying business people.

‡Part of the cost of these visits is refundable by the EC.