Written answers

Tuesday, 9 December 2008

Department of Finance

Departmental Travel

10:00 pm

Photo of Róisín ShortallRóisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 173: To ask the Minister for Finance if his Department and all agencies under his remit are in compliance with his Department's guidelines on foreign travel; and the mechanisms in place in each to ensure ongoing compliance with these guidelines. [44821/08]

Photo of Brian Lenihan JnrBrian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I am satisfied that my Department complies fully with the guidelines it issued on foreign travel in 1998 and that they are being fully met by the following bodies under my remit: Office of the Revenue Commissioners, State laboratory, Valuation Office, Public Appointments Service, Commission for Public Service Appointments, Office of Public Works, National Treasury Management Agency, National Pensions Reserve Fund, State Claims Agency, and National Development Finance Agency.

On-going adherence to those guidelines is ensured within my Department by requiring any officer proposing to book a flight to fill in an authorisation form which must be approved by an officer of Principal or higher level. All involved are aware of the need to ensure that the flights chosen achieve the best value for money.

All the bodies listed above and the Office of the Ombudsman have confirmed to me that they require flights to be approved at senior level prior to travel being undertaken and operate monitoring procedures to ensure proper adherence to the guidelines.

The Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General has informed me that it is in compliance with the guidelines issued by my Department and that appropriate monitoring procedures are in place to ensure adherence to the guidelines.

I am informed that the Special EU Programmes Body (a joint North-South body) in the case of its Monaghan based staff follows the Department's guidelines on foreign travel. Its staff based in Belfast and Omagh operate the guidelines on Foreign Travel contained within the Northern Ireland Civil Service Staff Handbook.

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