Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 80: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of expense account credit cards paid by her Department; the credit limit on each card; the amount spent on expense account credit cards since 2004 to date in 2009; the instances where the annual expenditure on a single credit card exceeded €5,000 with the grade of the credit card holder; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16064/09]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I interpret the Deputy's question as relating to credit card expense accounts, the costs of which are paid directly by the Department. My Department does not operate such accounts.

However, in the interest of transparency, I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department facilitates the issue of charge cards to staff who travel abroad on official business on a regular basis. This arrangement is intended to obviate the need for staff members to use their personal credit cards to cover costs such as hotel accommodation and other official expenses necessarily incurred in the course of their official business. Staff who are issued with charge cards under this arrangement hold individual accounts with the issuing credit card company. Each card holder is responsible for paying any balances due on his/her account directly to the credit card company.

Staff are entitled to reclaim travel, subsistence and other official expenses incurred in connection with their official duties from my Department strictly in accordance with Department of Finance regulations and applicable rates. Reimbursements of this nature are paid directly to the officers concerned who may use the refunds to settle their charge/credit card accounts. At present, 42 staff of my Department hold charge cards under the arrangement outlined above. Some other staff choose to use their personal credit cards for business related transactions. My Department pays Government Stamp Duty on charge/credit cards used for official transactions. The total cost of Stamp Duty paid on these cards from 2004 to date is set out on the following table: