Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 117: To ask the Minister for Health and Children 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. [16068/09]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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There are four corporate credit/charge cards for official business purposes currently in use in my Department. The credit limit on the card issued to me as Minister is €50,000 and that of the card issued to my Private Secretary is €10,000. The two remaining cards are charge cards with no specified limit and are issued to a nominated officer in my Department's Finance Unit and the Registrar of the Adoption Board. These cards are used to cover a range of costs such as publications, seminar and conference fees, annual membership fees, transport costs and software purchases where payment by credit card is required. In the period 2004 to 2007, cards were issued to a number of other nominated persons, including the Ombudsman for Children, the Chairman of the Post Mortem Inquiry, the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction and the National Children's Office. The total paid between 2004 and to date in 2009 on all cards amounts to €115,543. During this period the annual amount charged on a single card exceeded €5,000 three times in respect of the cards issued to both the Finance Unit and the Registrar of the Adoption Board and once in respect of the card issued to the National Children's Office. In each case the grade of the nominated officer is Assistant Principal.