I travelled to the United States for the annual St. Patrick's Day visit.
My visit from 11-17 March encompassed four cities; Philadelphia, Boston, Washington and New York. Unfortunately due to adverse weather conditions my programme in Boston was curtailed and a scheduled visit to Rhode Island had to be cancelled.
The most up to date information of costs paid to date by the Department of the Taoiseach are as follows: flights for the delegation €36,711.78, official gifts €1,237 and travel & subsistence €1,061.76.
It should be noted that not all invoices relating to the trip have been received. The Department of the Taoiseach routinely publishes details of foreign travel costs on its website (www.taoiseach.gov.ie).