Departmental Data

Wednesday, 16 February 2022

Ceisteanna (127)

Catherine Murphy

Ceist:

127. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Defence if he will provide a schedule of foreign travel episodes arranged by his Department for elected representatives, Ministers and their staff and-or special advisers since 1 January 2018 to date in 2022; and if he will provide a schedule of locations of the travel arranged or advised on, to include the final destination of travel episode, by year, and the full cost of same. [8501/22]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Defence

The Ministerial Air Transport Service (MATS) provides the government and the President with an independent, flexible and effective air transport service to assist in meeting national and international obligations. Details in relation to the use of this Service by members of the Government over the period in question, as well as the average costs are available on the website of my Department, www.defence.ie.

My Department did not arrange any other foreign travel for elected representatives, Ministers and their staff or special advisors from any other government body or department from 1 January 2018 to date in 2022.

With regard to my own foreign travel and that of my staff or special advisors, the detailed information sought by the Deputy is not readily available. My Department is retrieving and collating the information requested and I will arrange to have it forwarded to the Deputy as soon as it is available.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51

I refer to the above referenced Parliamentary Question. While all the information requested was not immediately available at the time, the information has now been complied and is set out in the attached table.

The details and expenditure incurred for the period from 1 January 2018 to date in 2022 is as follows:

Date of Travel	Location	Reason for Travel	Cost
05-06 March 2018	Brussels	Foreign Affairs Council FAC) (Defence)	€292.64
24-25 June 2018	Luxembourg	FAC (Defence)	€866.20
29-30 August 2018	Vienna	Informal Meeting of EU Defence Ministers	€356.13

05-08 January 2019	Mali	Taoiseach's Visit	€880.53
13-21 March 2019	Cyprus/Lebanon/Jordan	St. Patricks Day Trip	€3,495.48
26-30 March 2019	New York	UN Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial	€2,874.53
28-29 August 2019	Helsinki	Informal Meeting of EU Defence Ministers	€564.66
25-28 Sept 2019	New York	UN General Assembly	€4,447.53
15-19 October 2019	Lebanon	Presidential Visit to Lebanon/UNIFIL	€2,236.04
05–06 May 2021	Brussels	FAC (Defence)	€269.15
26–28 May 2021	Lisbon	FAC (Defence)	€499.79
04-07 July 2021	Lebanon	Visit Lebanon/UNIFIL	€542.62
07-09 September 2021	New York	UNSC Ministerial Debate on UN Peacekeeping Operations	€1,557.89
06-09 December 2021	Korea	UN Peacekeeping Ministerial	€316.20
17-21 December 2021	Lebanon	Visit Lebanon/UNIFIL	€1,650.16