Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)
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Question 473: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the amount of money that was spent on taxis by his Department in the past year; the amount of money that has been provided for in the next year for taxi services for his Department; the times that taxis can be used by staff members; the terms under which staff members can use taxis; the amount that was used by staff members; the amount that was used by outsiders; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22720/11]

Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)
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Question 480: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the amount his Department has spent on taxis for staff and for others in each of the past four years. [23294/11]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 473 and 480 together.

My Department has a contract with a taxi company to provide taxi services at a very competitive rate. I have set out the information requested by the Deputy, as it relates to that contract, in the following table.

In addition to the expenditure incurred on the contracted taxi service, officials are reimbursed for taxi expenditure when the contracted service is not available. This reimbursement occurs through the travel and subsistence system and the data for the periods in question is as follows:

The total of the two is as follows:

Total

While there is no specific allocation for taxi use in my department, it is included in the overall travel budget, expenditure in this area is closely monitored to ensure it stays within expectations. The following stipulations apply to the use of taxis: Officials travelling within normal walking distance of their office base should not use a taxi service except in exceptional circumstances. The possible exceptions to this are officials with a "declared" disability or those carrying weighty files; Other cheaper forms of public transport should be used when available, e.g., buses; Taxis should be shared when officials are attending the same meeting:Meetings should be held in our buildings and /or video conference facilities used where possible; Staff who book taxis should be present in reception and ready to go ahead of the taxi arrival to avoid waiting charges.

Use of taxis is only permitted for official purposes and is restricted to staff use except in very exceptional circumstances. The extraction of information on the use of taxis by external personnel would be very time consuming and would necessitate going through all invoices from the taxi firm going over the past four years. My department has also implemented an initiative that makes available a number of bicycles for use by officials in its two Dublin offices during office hours. Following a successful pilot phase in Adelaide Road, this voluntary initiative was extended to Beggars Bush. The reaction of staff to the initiative has proved very positive and all eight bicycles are in regular use. This has helped to reduce the cost of taxis to the department since its inception in 2008.