Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 26 Mar 1996

Vol. 463 No. 3

Written Answers. - Ministerial Travel.

Ivor Callely

Ceist:

421 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Defence the foreign trips undertaken by him and the Minister(s) of State at his Department since assuming office; the total number of people who travelled on each trip; the names of the passengers; the total cost of each trip; and the sources of funding for each trip. [6285/96]

Minister for Defence (Mr. Barrett)

The following official foreign trips were undertaken by me since my appointment as Minister for Defence:

1.

Location	Number in Accompanying Party	Names	Total Cost
Rome(Attending World Military Games)	2	Mr. David J. O'Callaghan, Secretary, Department of Defence.Ms Barbara Burke, Private Secretary to the Minister.	£7,415

I also met with the director general of the food and agriculture organisation whose headquarters is in Rome to discuss fishery matters.

2.

Location	Number in Accompanying Party	Names	Total Cost
Madrid(Attending a Ministerial meeting of the Western European Union at which Ireland has observer status)	1	Mr. Michael O'Donoghue, Assistant Secretary, Department of Defence.Ms Barbara Burke.Mr. Conor Barry, ProgrammeManager.	£5,657

Ninety-four per cent of expenditure is attributed to flight costs in the Government Jet which was shared with the Tánaiste.

3.

Location	Number in Accompanying Party	Names	Total Cost
India(Address Confederation of Indian Industry and attending meetings on Defence/Marine business)	3	Mr. Tom Carroll, Secretary, Department of the Marine.Ms Barbara Burke.Mrs. Sheila Barrett.	£15,233

The visit to India was at the invitation of the Indian Government who met the costs of accommodation, internal travel etc. Commercial flights to and from India accounted for 84 per cent of the costs involved.

4.

As I have only just returned from a visit to Irish Troops serving with the United Nations in Lebanon, Cyprus and Syria, I am not in a position to give details of the cost of this trip, but these can be provided at a later date if the Deputy so wishes. It may be of interest that the cost of the 1995 visit to these destinations was £21,000.

One official foreign trip was undertaken by the Minister of State since his appointment. Details are as follows:

Location	Number in Accompanying Party	Names	Total Cost
Lebanon	6	Mr. Michael O'Donoghue.	£19,626
Mr. John Nolan, Private Secretary.
Mrs. Mirian Higgins.
Mr. John Morahan, First Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs.
Brigadier General Patrick Nowlan, Assistant Chief of Staff.
Captain Eugene Smyth, PSO/ACS.

Flights costs accounted for 51 per cent of expenditure.

The costs associated with all these official foreign trips were met from the appropriate subheads of the Defence/Marine Votes except where otherwise stated.