Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)
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Question 32: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade 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 [23314/11]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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My Department, which is responsible for Vote 28 (Foreign Affairs) and Vote 29 (International Cooperation), operates a restrictive policy for the use of corporate credit cards for official expenditure. The use of official credit cards may be permitted for officials who, because of the nature of their work, need to make official payments by this method. Credit cards are typically used to make occasional flight and hotel bookings, for making on-line purchases where it represents better value and for making payments at short notice, where cash may not be acceptable or where invoicing arrangements cannot be put in place.

Their use is subject to the same authorisation and control procedures as other forms of payment and decisions to issue a card are made in response to identified business needs. There are currently 4 official credit cards in use by my Department in Ireland, two assigned to Vote 28 and two to Vote 29. There are 16 official credit cards in use by Missions abroad. Where credit limits apply, this is set at €5,000.

The details of total spending on departmental credit cards from 2007 to 2010 and to date in 2011, and the amount that related to representational expenditure, can be found in the table below.

Vote 28

Vote 29