Seán Fleming
Question:1182. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the amount spent by his Department on drivers and ministerial transport since February 2011. [37594/12]
View answerTuesday, 18 September 2012
Questions (1182)
Written answers
As the Deputy will be aware, the Government introduced a number of changes for the provision of Office Holder transport during 2011. One of the consequences of that decision was that the transport arrangements in place for Ministers of State became applicable to Government Ministers, subject to very limited exceptions on security grounds. In addition, it was decided that former Presidents and Taoisigh would only be supplied with official transport for important State occasions. The revised transport arrangements came into operation for Government Ministers on 1st May 2011 and for former Office Holders on 16th June 2011.
The Garda Commissioner is the Accounting Officer for the Garda Vote. In that context, I am informed by the Garda authorities that the cost of providing Office Holder transport for the period 1 March 2011 to July 2012 was approximately €4,831,057. This figure includes costs associated with the service prior to and after the new transport arrangements had been fully introduced.