Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 18 Oct 1995

Vol. 457 No. 2

Written Answers. - Ministerial Travel.

Ivor Callely

Ceist:

103 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Justice if she will give a breakdown of foreign travel that she or the Minister of State at her Department has undertaken; the total cost involved; the purpose of such trips; the number and list of passengers who travelled; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15148/95]

Minister for Justice (Mrs. Owen)

Since taking office as Minister for Justice I have made a total of 12 visits abroad. In so far as the Department of Justice is concerned the Minister of State, Deputy Austin Currie, has made one trip abroad and Minister of State, Deputy Joan Burton, has made no trips abroad.

Duration	Destination	No. of Accompanying Delegation	Purpose	*Provisional Costs
				£
**25/1/-26/1/95	Paris	Assistant Secretary	Informal meeting of	1,994
		Principal Officer (2)	EU Justice and Home
		Private Secretary	Affairs Ministers
		Total No: 4
14/2/95	Belfast	Secretary	Anglo-Irish Inter-	19
		Commissioner — An	Governmental
		Garda Síochána	Conference
		Principal Officer
		Private Secretary
		Total No: 4
22/2/95	Belfast	Secretary	Anglo-Irish Summit	Nil
		Private Secretary	—Launch of the
		Programme Manager	Framework
			Document
		Total No: 3
8/3-10/3/95	Brussels	Secretary	Council Meeting of EU	1,683
		Assistant Secretary	Ministers for Justice
		Private Secretary	and the Interior
		Programme Manager
		Assistant Principal
		Higher Executive Officer
		Total No: 6
24/3-1/4/95	South America	Mr. Brian Owen	Accompanying the	16,394
		Private Secretary	President on an
		Total No: 2	Official Presidential
			visit
18/4-19/4/95	Paris	Assistant Secretary (2)	Informal Meeting of	5,206
		Principal Officer	E.U. Justice and Home
		Private Secretary	Affairs Ministers
		Total No: 4
5/6-7/6/95	Burcharest	Principal Officer	Council of Europe	1,299
	Romania	Private Secretary	Justice Ministers
		Programme Manager	Meeting
		Total No: 3
20/6-21/6/95	Luxembourg	Assistant Secretary	Council Meeting of EU	4,248
		Principal Officer	Ministers for Justice
		Private Secretary	and the Interior
		Higher Executive Officer
		Total No: 4
30/6/95	London	Secretary	Anglo Irish Inter-	199
		Commissioner — An	Government
		Garda Síochána	Conference
		Assistant Secretary (2)
		Principal Officer
		Private Secretary
		Programme Manager
		Total No: 7
27/8-31/8/95	Hungary	Mr. Brian Owen	Meeting with Justice	4,812
		Assistant Secretary	and Interior Ministers
		Private Secretary	of Hungary and with
		Programme Manager	Heads of Judiciary and
		Press Officer	Police.
		Total No: 5	Discussion of EU co
			operation with
			Hungary on Justice and
			Home Affairs matters;
			training undertaken by
			Hungarian Police
			Officers in Ireland and
			a draft Agreement for
			Bilateral Co-operation
			in Justice and Interior
			matters.
24/9-25/9/95	Brussels	Assistant Secretary	Council Meeting of EU	2,760
		Principal Officer	Ministers for Justice
		Private Secretary	and Interior
		Higher Executive Officer
		Total No: 4
12/10-16/10/95	Spain	Mr. Brian Owen	Informal meeting of	624
		Assistant Secretary (2)	EU Justice and
		Principal Officer	Home Affairs Ministers
		Private Secretary
		Programme Manager
		Higher Executive Officer
		Total No: 7
17/10/95	Belfast	Secretary	Anglo Irish Inter-	Nil
		Commissioner — An	Governmental
		Garda Síochána	Conference
		Assistant Secretary
		Principal Officer
		Private Secretary
		Programme Manager
		Total No: 6

The above trips were booked via Aer Lingus whenever the Government jet was not used.

* The costs shown for each visit are based on the travel and subsistence costs which have been brought to account in the Department of Justice to date. It can be some time before invoices or other bills are received and brought to account in the Department of Justice.

** Denotes trip undertaken by Minister of State Deputy Austin Currie.