Departmental Expenditure

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 December 2019

Thursday, 12 December 2019

Ceisteanna (45)

Niall Collins

Ceist:

45. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the number of credit cards issued to Ministers and officials working in his Department; the amount spent on credit cards in each year since 2016; the bank interest paid on credit cards in each year since 2016; the controls in place to monitor the issuing of and the expenditure on the cards; the controls in place in each agency to monitor expenditure on personally held credit card bills that are subsequently used to recoup work-related expenses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52399/19]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister of State at the Department of Defence

There are four business credit cards issued to my Department. The table below provides details of the expenditure on these cards and the bank interest paid in respect of these cards from 1 January 2016 to 31 October 2019.

Year	Amount Spent	Interest
2016	€20,004.38	Nil
2017	€15,603.86	€11.53
2018	€23,967.94	Nil
2019 (to 31 October)	€15,951.59	Nil

I can confirm that my Department has a credit card policy in place that sets out the conditions for the use of the Department's business credit cards. This policy requires each cardholder to certify that any expenditure on the card assigned to them was incurred for official purposes only and was in accordance with the Department's guidelines on the use of credit cards. I can also confirm that all expenditure on the Department's business credit cards is subject to continuous monitoring by the appropriate authority.