The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform did not have a stand at the National Ploughing Championship 2018. However my Department, as the Government Department with responsibility for the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), had one member of staff deployed in the European Union Commission tent for two days. The total expenses, which included travel by public transport, admittance charges and subsistence in accordance with Circular 06/17 "Domestic Subsistence Allowances", amounted to €197.00.
The purpose of attendance, at this major event, was to promote and communicate the work of the European Structural Investment Funds. Over the 2014-2020 programming period these funds will be used, together with Irish Government and Local Authority funding, to invest €6.2 billion in Ireland, across the whole of the country in support of initiatives in education, research and job creation to help create a sustainable and healthy economy across the whole of the country.