Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 90: To ask the Minister for Finance if he has issued guidelines in respect of expenses for board directors and senior executives at State boards and agencies; when such guidelines were issued and updated; the substance of said guidelines; the State bodies, enterprises or semi-State entities to which said guidelines were issued; if he will issue updated guidelines in view of recent revelations in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35125/09]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I presume the Deputy is referring to guidelines in relation to foreign travel.

My Department issued updated guidelines on foreign travel on 1 July 2009. These supersede instructions issued previously.

These guidelines were issued to all Government Departments. In addition to staff of Departments, the guidelines apply to all bodies and agencies under the aegis of Departments. The updated guidelines on travel are available on my Department's website at http://www.finance.gov.ie.

The instructions to Departments stated that the guidelines should be brought to the attention of such bodies in writing and that reassurance about compliance with the guidelines should be sought as part of the annual reporting procedure between the Chairperson of the State body and the relevant Minister prescribed in the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies.

The Code of Practice which was updated in May 2009 reinforces and makes clear the policy and states that non-commercial state bodies should comply in all respects with the circulars issued from time to time by the Department of Finance regarding travel and subsistence, and that commercial bodies should be cognisant of the need to achieve economy and efficiency in expenditure on official travel. It also states that Boards of State bodies that incur significant annual expenditure on foreign travel by members of the staff or the Board should put appropriate procedures in place to monitor, report and enforce the relevant rules and requirements.