Written Answers. - Ministerial Official Visits Abroad.
Bernard Allen
Question:
76
Mr. Allen
asked the
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs
the number of visits abroad made by the Minister of State at his Department 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.
Since his appointment as Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Tom Kitt has made a total of 20 visits abroad. On nine of these occasions the Minister of State accompanied me at meetings of the EC General Affairs Council, seven of these were in Brussels and the remaining two were in Luxembourg. The Minister of State also attended one EC Summit meeting in Copenhagen.
From 20 to 25 February 1993 the Minister of State attended an EC-Latin American group meeting in El Salvador. On the return journey he visited the US State Department in Washington and the United Nations in New York for discussions with regard to the murder of Concern volunteer Valerie Place in Somalia. He was accompanied by four officials.
From 21 to 31 March 1993 the Minister of State paid a visit to Africa to examine Irish bilateral aid projects and to meet volunteers. The countries he visited were Somalia, Tanzania and Zambia. The Minister of State was accompanied by five officials while in Somalia and three officials in Tanzania and Zambia.
On 13 April 1993 the Minister of State attended a conference on economic development in Central and Eastern Europe in Copenhagen. He was accompanied by three others.
From 21 to 28 April 1993 the Minister of State visited Sudan to examine Irish bilateral aid projects and to hold discussions with various Government Ministers. He also visited the famine stricken region of Southern Sudan where he met representatives of Irish non-governmental organisations and had discussions with faction leaders in the south. On his way back from Sudan the Minister of State had talks with his Dutch and Swedish counterparts in Amsterdam and Stockholm. Three officials accompanied the Minister of State in Sudan, while two others accompanied him in the Netherlands and Sweden.
On 14 May 1993 the Minister of State attended a Council of Europe ministerial meeting in Strasbourg. He was accompanied by three officials.
On 17 May 1993 the Minister of State attended an EC-ACP ministerial meeting in Brussels. He was accompanied by one official.
On Tuesday, 25 May the Minister of State attended an EC Development Council meeting in Brussels. He was accompanied by two officials.
On 3 June 1993 the Minister of State attended an OECD ministerial meeting in Paris. He was accompanied by one officials.
On 22 July the Minister of State attended an EC Budget Council in Brussels. He was accompanied by two officials from the Department of Finance.
From 25 September to 3 October 1993 the Minister of State accompanied President Robinson on a State visit to India. He was accompanied by one official.
While accounting returns do not provide for the isolation of costs relating to individual visits I can inform the Deputy that as of 31 August 1993 a total amount of £34,183 had been spent from the Minister of State's travel budget. This represents 38 per cent of the Minister of State's travel budget for the year.
Where possible, the Minister of State uses an Irish airline. For travel to EC General Affairs Councils he was part of the delegation using Air Corps transport. For other travel, various international airlines were used as convenient and in some instances in Africa it was necessary to charter private planes for routes not covered by commercial flights.
The Minister of State at the Office of the Tánaiste, Deputy Eithne Fitzgerald, made one visit abroad as part of her assignment to that office. She travelled to Brussels by Air Corps transport on 3 June 1993 to speak at "Directoria '93", a convention for directors of local and regional authorities, returning to Dublin by commercial aircraft, Aer Lingus. She was accompanied by one official from the office of the Tánaiste and the cost of the trip was £603.
