Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 143: To ask the Taoiseach the amount of money spent on hotel accommodation by his Department and each State agency under the aegis of his Department for each of the years 2004 to date in 2008; if he will provide the information available in tabular readable form. [46686/08]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The amount spent on hotel accommodation from my Department's Vote and each State agency under the aegis of this Department from 2004 to end of November 2008 is detailed in the table below.

These figures include Programme spend in respect of the bodies operating under the aegis of my Department, other than those referenced out separately below.

Expenditure by NESDO (which was established on a statutory basis from 1 January 2007) is detailed in the following table for 2007 & 2008.

Expenditure by the Central Statistics Office is detailed in the following table from 2004 to 2008 inclusive.

In general, CSO staff travelling on official business make hotel bookings themselves and pay directly for their accommodation so an overall figure for hotel costs is not available. As a decentralised Office, the CSO occasionally pays directly for hotel accommodation in Ireland, for a small number of meetings involving staff from the Dublin and Cork offices.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 144: To ask the Taoiseach the procurement arrangements in place in his Department and each State agency under the aegis of his Department for the sourcing of hotel accommodation for him, for his Departmental staff and staff at each State agency, when overnight accommodation is necessary; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46701/08]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has a travel policy which is based on the guidelines laid down by the Department of Finance. It is applicable to all staff and sets out the policy regarding appropriate hotel accommodation to be used. The aims of the travel policy are to minimise official travel costs and to achieve value for money for expenditure necessarily incurred, consistent with the effective discharge of official duties.

Hotel bookings in relation to my official foreign travel are made by the Department of Foreign Affairs in consultation with the host Government and the local Irish Embassy. In regard to procurement arrangements for sourcing hotel accommodation, the central contract for travel booking services for government officials includes provision for making hotel reservations. This contract is currently held by Club Travel Limited and was awarded following an EU-level advertised procurement process conducted under the lead of the Department of Finance earlier this year.

With regard to Departmental staff, in most instances, hotel bookings are centrally co-ordinated by my Department's Finance Unit which ensures that the travel policy and Department of Finance guidelines are complied with. A designated Travel Officer has responsibility for making bookings on the basis of a decision by the Department of the options put forward by Club Travel. Where exceptionally, Department officials book their own hotel accommodation, they are required to adhere to the Department's Travel Policy.

The procurement arrangements in NESDO are to select a hotel which is convenient to the location of the official business and which is competitively priced. With regard to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the normal civil service rules for travel and subsistence expenses apply to staff of the CSO travelling on official business. Staff claim travel and overnight expenses in accordance with the rules and rates appropriate to the relevant destination. In general, staff travelling on official business make hotel bookings themselves and pay directly for their accommodation.

As a decentralised Office, the CSO occasionally pays directly for hotel accommodation in Ireland, for a small number of meetings involving staff from the Dublin and Cork offices. When the CSO sources accommodation for official purposes (e.g. meetings, interview rooms, overnight accommodation) the Office follows national procurement guidelines. All bookings are made on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender.