Written answers
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Department of Foreign Affairs
Departmental Staff
4:00 pm
Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 180: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the total expenses claimed by the Secretary General of his Department in each of the past three years; the amount that has been spent on travel, including foreign travel, and entertainment by them in each of the past three years; if he will provide a detailed breakdown of these costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27508/10]
Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 181: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the total expenses claimed by the assistant secretaries of his Department in each of the past three years, the amount that has been spent on travel, including foreign travel, and entertainment by each in each of the past three years; a detailed breakdown of these costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27523/10]
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to answer Questions Nos.180 and 181 together.
The total expenses claimed by the Secretary General of my department, by Deputy Secretaries and by Assistant Secretaries in respect of travel and entertainment are set out in the tables below.
Travel (including foreign travel)
| 2007€ | 2008€ | 2009€ | 2010 to date € | |
| Secretary GeneralDermot Gallagher (up to 01/2009)David Cooney (01/2009 to date) | 49,882 | 47,219 | 16,536 | 4,950 |
| Consular ServicesRay Bassett | 5,897 | 16,783 | 1,696 | 1,393 |
| Inspection Unit / Strategy and Performance UnitJohn Neary(up to 09/2009)Marie Cross (08/2009 to date) | 13,019 | 19,569 | 7,793 | 899 |
| Political DivisionRory Montgomery (up to 04/2009)David Donoghue (04/2009 to date) | 50,326 | 33,245 | 14,271 | 8,801 |
| European Union DivisionDan Mulhall (up to 08/2009)Peter Gunning (08/2009 to date) | 25,104 | 16,788 | 15,615 | 2,574 |
| Promoting Ireland AbroadMary Whelan (up to 09/2009)John Neary (09/2009 to date) | 18,194 | 18,447 | 19,667 | 186 |
| Anglo-Irish DivisionPatrick Hennessy (up to 10/2009)Adrian O'Neill (10/2009 to 02/2010) | 14,660 | 17,240 | 11,008 | 859 |
| Corporate ServicesAdrian O'Neill (up to 10/2009)Barrie Robinson (11/2009 to date) | 1,934 | 1,461 | 2,122 | nil |
| Protocol DivisionKathleen White | 30,109 | 11,802 | 17,999 | 1,407 |
| DCDDr. James Kiely (10/2008 to date)Brendan RogersRonan Murphy (up to 10/2008)Michael Gaffey (06/2008 to date) | 56,222 | 75,424 | 57,890 | 34,52 3 |
| Legal DivisionPatricia O'Brien (up to 09/2008)James Kingston (09/2008 to date) | 9,336 | 7,181 | 15,702 | 3,404 |
Entertainment
| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 to date | |
| Secretary GeneralDermot Gallagher (up to 01/2009)David Cooney (01/2009 to date) | 1,380 | 1,481 | 408 | 0 |
| Consular ServicesRay Bassett | * | * | * | * |
| Inspection Unit / Strategy and Performance UnitJohn Neary(up to 09/2009)Marie Cross (08/2009) | - | 182 | 201 | 291 |
| Political DivisionRory Montgomery (up to 04/2009)David Donoghue (04/2009 to date) | 1,448 | 2,523 | 179 | 1,080 |
| European Union DivisionDan Mulhall (up to 08/2009)Peter Gunning (08/2009 to date) | - | 306 | 648 | 712 |
| Promoting Ireland AbroadMary Whelan (up to 09/2009)John Neary (09/2009 to date) | * | 220 | 727 | 255 |
| Anglo-Irish DivisionPatrick Hennessy (up to 10/2009)Adrian O'Neill (10/2009 to 02/2010) | 292 | 335 | 161 | 38 |
| Corporate ServicesAdrian O'Neill (up to 10/2009)Barrie Robinson (11/2009 to date) | 378 | 1,206 | 176 | 304 |
| Protocol DivisionKathleen White | 789 | 345 | 667 | 454 |
| DCDDr. James Kiely (10/2008 to date)Brendan RogersRonan Murphy (up to 10/2008)Michael Gaffey (06/2008 to date) | 4,018 | 3,117 | 4,513 | 1,393 |
| Legal DivisionPatricia O'Brien (up-to 09/2008)James Kingston (09/2008 to date) | 271 | 203 | 506 | - |
*data not retrievable in the time available
As the Deputy will appreciate, both the Secretary General and the Assistant Secretaries serving at my Department, by the nature of the Department's responsibilities, are obliged to undertake a significant amount of official travel overseas. My Department is fully compliant with the Department of Finance guidelines on foreign travel and also operates its own detailed internal travel guidelines which ensure cost effective travel practises. The central aim of the Departmental travel policy is to minimise official travel costs and to achieve value for money for expenditure necessarily incurred, consistent with the effective discharge of official duties.
In my Department, a General Entertainment budget is provided for various types of expenses incurred by Divisions of my Department including entertainment costs incurred in relation to the Irish Aid programme. My Department takes all appropriate measures to ensure that costs are kept as low as possible. The Department's practice with regard to the appropriate level of entertainment provided is based on agreed EU Guidelines and on reciprocity. There have been significant reductions in the budgets assigned for general and state entertainment in recent years. The current budget for entertainment reflects a 30% reduction on the 2009 figure, which in turn represented a reduction of 11% on the preceding year.
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