Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)
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Question 560: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the details of spending, using departmental credit cards held by Department staff over the past four years; the numbers of persons in his Department who hold credit cards; the credit limits of said cards; and the amount that was specifically spent by his Department on entertainment provided using said credit card. [23312/11]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Details of expenditure using Departmental credit cards for the period from January 2008 to August 2011 are set out as follows. The Table also sets out the amount spent on entertainment on those credit cards.

Departmental credit cards are issued for authorised official use only in circumstances where a strong business case has been established. Cards are withdrawn when the business case no longer exists and transferred into the name of the incoming officer, as appropriate, when there is a reassignment of duties.

Currently there are four credit card holders in my Department, namely:

Private Secretary to the Minister

Private Secretary to the Minister of State for Housing and Planning

Principal Officer, ICT Section, and

Head of Administration and Training Division, Met Éireann

Each of the four credit cards has a credit limit of €7,000. Credit cards are issued to the private secretaries to the Minister and Minister of State to facilitate payment for goods or services which would prove more difficult under normal invoicing arrangements, such as reserving hotel accommodation abroad. In the cases of Met Éireann and ICT, the credit cards are used to facilitate the purchase of ICT hardware and software licences and for the renewal of subscriptions to work-related publications.