Official Travel

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 January 2011

Tuesday, 18 January 2011

Ceisteanna (248, 249, 250, 251)

Lucinda Creighton

Ceist:

295 Deputy Lucinda Creighton asked the Minister for Justice and Law Reform if he will provide details of any foreign trip made by him in the year 2010 and to date in 2011; the purpose of each trip; the costs associated with each trip broken down by air travel, ground transportation, hotel accommodation and entertaining expenses; if air travel was by way of commercial airline or Government jet; the exact mode of ground transportation used; the name of each hotel and the nature of the entertainment for which the expenses were incurred; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2680/11]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Justice and Law Reform (Deputy Dermot Ahern)

The information requested by the Deputy is provided in a table. As Minister, I have travelled abroad on 6 occasions since 2010 to date, 4 of which were for the purposes of attending EU Justice & Home Affairs Council Meetings. On the other 2 occasions I travelled to London for meetings with the newly appointed British Home Secretary, Justice Secretary and Immigration Minister and on one occasion for the purpose of representing the Government abroad in France for St. Patrick's Day 2010.

Minister Dermot Ahern, Travel Details January 2010-to date	Minister’s Hotel costs	Air Fare	Car Hire costs for Minister	Number of persons accompanying Minister
November 2010
8th November
Travelled from Dublin to Luxemburg	No cost accrued by the Minister	Ministerial Air Transport	No costs incurred	3 — Included officials who as a matter of course attend JHA Ministerial meetings
Purpose of Trip: EU Informal Justice & Home Affairs Meetings
July 2010
14th July — 16th July
Travelled from Dublin to Brussels	No costs accrued by the Minister	€123.30	No costs incurred	5 — Included officials who as a matter of course attend JHA Ministerial meetings
Purpose of Trip: EU Informal Justice and Home Affairs Meeting*
June 2010
21st June
Travelled from Dublin to London	No overnight costs incurred	Ministerial Air Transport	Not available at present	5 — officials who as a matter of course attend such meetings
Purpose of Trip: Separate meetings with London Home Secretary, the Justice Secretary and Immigration Minister
4th June
Travelled from Dublin to Luxemburg	No overnight costs incurred	Ministerial Air Transport	Not available at present	4 — Included officials who as a matter of course attend JHA Ministerial meetings
Purpose of Trip: EU Justice and Home Affairs Council Meeting

Minister Dermot Ahern, Travel Details January 2010-to date	Minister’s Hotel costs	Air Fare	Car Hire costs for Minister	Number of persons accompanying Minister
March 2010
15th March — 19th March
Travelled from Dublin to Paris	Minister stayed with Ambassador so no costs accru-ed	€182.52	Minister travelled in Ambassador’s car so no costs incurred	2 pax
Purpose of Trip: Represented the Government abroad in France for St. Patrick’s day
January 2010
20th January – 22nd January 2010
Travelled from Dublin to Toledo, Spain	No costs accrued by the Minister	Ministerial Air Transport	No costs accrued by the Minister	7 — Included officials who as a matter of course attend JHA Ministerial meetings
Purpose of Trip: EU Informal Justice & Home Affairs Council Meeting*

*Accommodation & transport was provided by the host Government; accordingly no costs accrued to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform

Lucinda Creighton

Ceist:

296 Deputy Lucinda Creighton asked the Minister for Justice and Law Reform if he will provide details of any foreign trip made by officials in his Department in the years 2009, 2010 and to date in 2011; the purpose of each trip; the costs associated with each trip broken down by air travel, ground transportation, hotel accommodation and entertaining expenses; if air travel was by way of commercial airline or Government jet; the mode of ground transportation used; the name of each hotel; the nature of the entertainment for which expenses were incurred; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2695/11]

Lucinda Creighton

Ceist:

298 Deputy Lucinda Creighton asked the Minister for Justice and Law Reform if he will provide details of any foreign trip made by officials in public bodies under the remit of his Department in the years 2009, 2010 and to date in 2011, the purpose of each trip; the costs associated with each trip broken down by air travel, ground transportation, hotel accommodation and entertaining expenses; if air travel was by way of commercial airline or Government jet; the mode of ground transportation used; the name of each hotel; the nature of entertainment for which expenses were incurred; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2740/11]

Minister for Justice and Law Reform (Deputy Dermot Ahern)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 296 and 298 together.

I am not in a position to provide the information sought by the Deputy. As the Deputy may be aware, there are about 24,000 staff in my Department and its associated twenty four public bodies. This includes large nationwide organisations such as An Garda Síochána, the Courts Service and the Irish Prisons Service. To seek to obtain all the information sought, would require a disproportionate use of time and resources, which cannot be justified at a time when there are numerous demands on the public bodies concerned.

Maintaining national representation at EU, Council of Europe, UN and other International fora primarily accounts for expenditure by my Department on foreign travel. I wish to inform the Deputy that the travel and subsistence information requested for the years 2009 and 2010 is available in the Revised Estimates Volume for each of the years concerned. Copies of these documents are available on the Department of Finance's website (www.finance.gov.ie) and in the Oireachtas Library. I also wish to refer the Deputy to the Revised Estimates Volume for 2011 which contains full year Estimates information for my Department. Copies of this document are available on the Department of Finance's website (www.finance.gov.ie) and in the Oireachtas Library.

Lucinda Creighton

Ceist:

297 Deputy Lucinda Creighton asked the Minister for Justice and Law Reform if he will provide details of hotel accommodation used by him within the State while on ministerial duties in the year 2009, 2010 and to date in 2011; the name of each hotel in which he stayed; the costs associated with each stay and the purpose of each trip; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2725/11]

Minister for Justice and Law Reform (Deputy Dermot Ahern)

The records in my office indicate that in 2009, 2010 and to date in 2011, a total expenditure of approximately 520 euro was incurred in the provision of hotel accommodation for me in the State in the exercise of my ministerial duties.

Question No. 298 answered with Question No. 296.