Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 March 2013
461. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the cost of drivers of each vehicle assigned to him and Ministers of State in his Department since March 2011; the mileage and other costs claimed in respect of each since March 2011; the overall yearly costs of ministerial cars in 2010; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12462/13]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, shortly after the current Government took office in March 2011 it decided to introduce a number of very significant changes in respect of the provision of Office Holder transport. 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 1 May 2011 and for former Office Holders on 16 June 2011.
The Garda Commissioner is the Accounting Officer for the Garda Vote. In that context, I am informed by the Garda authorities that records in relation to the cost of providing Office Holder transport have not been maintained in a manner which allow for the identification of costs associated with individual Office Holders. However, the Garda authorities have indicated that total expenditure on the provision of Office Holder transport in 2010, 2011 and 2012 was as outlined in the following table:
|
Year |
Expenditure |
|
2010 |
€7.503 million |
|
2011 |
€4.595 million |
|
2012 |
€2.201 million |
With regard to the table, some of the costs arising in 2011 included costs associated with the service prior to and after the new transport arrangements had been introduced.
No transport costs for Ministers of State have been paid by my Department in the period since March 2011.
