Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 26 Mar 1996

Vol. 463 No. 3

Written Answers. - Ministerial Travel.

Ivor Callely

Ceist:

58 Mr. Calley asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs 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. [6287/96]

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Spring)

Details of the trips undertaken by me in the period 31 January 1992 to 16 December 1995 and by Ministers of State Burton and Mitchell in the period 1 January to 18 October 1995 have already been made available to the House in replies given on 7 October 1993 — Questions Nos. 16 and 32; 29 March 1994 — Question No. 86; 11 October 1994 — Question No. 117; 18 October 1995 — Question No. 64 and 27 February 1996 — Question 64.

Details of the trips undertaken by me in 1996 and by Ministers of State Burton and Mitchell since 18 October 1995 are as set out in the tables below. The costs involved in ministerial travel are normally borne by the Department of Foreign Affairs; costs for personnel or facilities provided by other Departments are met by the relevant Department. Costs, where appropriate, are also paid by the European Union, by receiving Governments in the case of bilateral official visits and by the Industrial Development Authority in the case of IDA promotional visits.

On my appointment as Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs I arranged for the allocation to my office for travel purposes to be reduced by approximately 12 per cent on that of my predecessor. This reduction has been maintained each year to date.

Details of the trips undertaken by the Minister of State at the Office of the Tánaiste are also attached.

Tánaiste's Travel 1996

Date	Destination	Purpose	Number accompanying including other Ministers
9-11/1/1996	Cyprus	Official Talks	4
20-22/1/1996	Israel/Palestine	EU Troika Commitment	7
25-26/1/1996	Austria	Preparatory Meeting Intergovernmental Conference	2
28-29/1/1996	Brussels	General Affairs Council	10
1/2/1996	London	Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference	13
7-9/2/1996	Washington	Briefing President Clinton and Members of Congress on the Anglo-Irish Situation	7
25-26/2/1996	Brussels	General Affairs Council	7
28/2/1996	London	Anglo-Irish Joint Communique	Accompanied Taoiseach
8-10/3/1996	Malta and Italy	Meeting with Maltese Foreign Minister and Informal Foreign Ministers Meeting in Palermo	5
15-17/3/1996	London	Irish Community Engagements	4
24-25/3/1996	Brussels	General Affairs Council	9

Minister of State Burton

Date	Destination	Purpose	Number accompanying
6-11/12/1995	Ethiopia	Meeting with Foreign Minister Visit to Irish Development Aid Programme	4
20/12/1995	Brussels	Development Council	5
8-9/1/1996	Paris	Conference on Economic Assistance to Palestinian People	3
19-21/2/1996	Stockholm/Brussels	Meeting Swedish Minister for ODA/EU Commissioner	4

Minister of State Mitchell

Date	Destination	Purpose	Number accompanying
23-24/10/1995	Brussels	Reflection Group	2
30/10/1995	Luxembourg	General Affairs Council	6
8-9/11/1995	Strasbourg	Council of Europe	3
13-14/11/1995	Brussels	Reflection Group	2
25-26/11/1995	Madrid	Reflection Group	2
5/12/1995	Brussels	Reflection Group	3
6-8/12/1995	Budapest	OSCE	4
16-17/1/1996	Strasbourg	European Parliament	3
29-30/1/1996	Brussels	General Affairs Council	2
12-14/2/1996	Damascus/Tel Aviv	EU Troika	4
28/2-3/3/1996	Bangkok/ New Delhi	EU ASEM (acc. Taoiseach) EU Troika	1 3
12-14/3/1996	Strasbourg/Paris	European Parliament OECD	2

Minister of State Fitzgerald

Date	Destination	Purpose	Number accompanying including other Ministers
11-19/2/1995	Australia/ New Zealand	Freedom of Information	4
27/2/1995	London	“Campaign for Freedom of Information” Awards	2
3/3/1996	Paris	OECD Developments in Long-Term Unemployment	3