Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 135: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation the number of departmental credit cards in use in his Department; the names of the authorised signatories of same; the credit limit of same; the amount spent in respect of each card in each of the past three years with a breakdown of the annual bill; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26563/10]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I interpret the Deputy's question as relating to credit cards held by my Department where any costs incurred on the cards are paid directly by the Department. My Department does not operate credit cards of this nature. However, my Department recognises that certain staff may incur substantial up-front costs in the course of their official business. In this context, my Department can facilitate the issuing of a corporate charge card by a commercial provider to staff who demonstrate a business need for such a card. This arrangement is intended as an alternative to staff members using their personal credit cards to cover costs such as hotel accommodation and other official expenses necessarily incurred in the course of their official duties.

Staff who are issued with corporate 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. In this context, it would not be appropriate to provide the names of the officials holding these cards.

Staff are entitled to reclaim from my Department travel, subsistence and other official expenses incurred in connection with their official duties, 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 card accounts. However, any charges on the cards in excess of the refundable rates are a matter for the officers to discharge directly with the credit card company.

At present, 16 staff of my Department hold corporate charge cards under the arrangement outlined above. Provided the individual cardholder has settled his/her account with the credit card company in full and on time each month, no pre-set credit limit is placed on the card by the provider. However, the card company monitors the spend on the cards, and any out-of-pattern spend or ramp-up in spend on a card is blocked at the point of sale. In addition to these controls, my Department monitors overall monthly balances on accounts.

Some other staff of my Department choose to use personal credit cards for business-related transactions and claim reimbursement of these expenses in accordance with Department of Finance regulations. My Department pays Government Stamp Duty on all corporate and personal charge/credit cards used for official transactions. The total cost of Stamp Duty paid on these cards from 2007 to the present is set out on the following table: