Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 126: To ask the Minister for Transport the number of expense account credit cards paid by his 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 he will make a statement on the matter. [16071/09]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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Credit cards are issued to staff of my Department to enable them to pay for expenses which necessarily arise in the course of their duties. There are currently 13 credit cards in use. The credit card limits depend on the likely usage of a card. 8 of the cards have limits of €5,000 or under. Of the remainder, 3 cards have limits of €10,000, 1 card has a limit of €12,700. and 1 card which is used for general purchases , including conference bookings etc, has a limit of €25,000.

The amount spent on credit cards since 2004 to date in 2009 is €482,889.

In the period covered by the Question there were 16 instances where the annual expenditure on a single credit card exceeded €5,000. The grades covered were Assistant Principal Officer, Chief Inspector of Air Accidents, Higher Executive Officer and Chief Aeronautical Officer. In half of the cases the expenditure was in respect of cards held for general departmental use rather than for use by an individual.