Departmental Expenditure

Dáil Éireann Debate, Friday - 16 September 2016

Friday, 16 September 2016

Questions (404)

Dara Calleary

Question:

404. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of credit cards issued to Ministers and officials working in his Department; the amount spent on credit cards by his Department in 2014 and in 2015; the amount of bank interest paid on credit cards in 2014 and 2015; the controls in place to monitor the issuing of and the expenditure on these cards; the controls in place in each agency to monitor expenditure on personally held credit cards that are subsequently used to recoup work-related expenses; if these controls are being reviewed in view of recent events in agencies funded by the HSE; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24740/16]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

The Department of Education and Skills has a very strict policy in relation to the use of credit cards. Their use in the Department is restricted to Ministerial Private Secretaries and the Principal Officer responsible for the Department's IT Unit. The Department has a written policy in place which sets out the limited circumstances in which credit cards can be used, namely costs associated with travel on official business and urgent ad hoc expenditure in extremely time-limited circumstances.

All claims for reimbursement of work related expenditure on personally held credit cards must meet the same strict controls as any other type of payment.

All expenditure on credit cards must be certified by a manager as compliant with relevant current financial legislation and guidelines, correctly incurred in relation to official business and all supporting documentation must be provided. The use of credit cards is monitored by the Department's Finance Unit, to ensure compliance with Departmental policy. This written policy is kept under review, and the most recent review was carried out in July 2016.

There are currently three credit cards in use by the Department, all of which are held with the Bank of Ireland. Expenditure in 2014 amounted to €7,111.28 and the equivalent sum was €13,779.68 in 2015. This expenditure included €366 for Stamp Duty and Annual Fee charges, along with interest payments of €44.14 in the two year period. The reason interest payments were incurred in 2014 is that the bank required matching of payments lodged to their account with reference credit card numbers. This facility was not available on the Department's Financial Management System at that point, resulting in some short delays. By 2015, the system for credit card payments was changed to direct debit method which eliminated this issue.