Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 194: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide the total amount each Government Minister, junior Minister and senior civil servant has spent on entertainment expenses since being appointed in the case of the Ministers and junior Ministers and in the calendar year of 2011 with regards to senior civil servants. [10853/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The information requested by the deputy regarding entertainment expenses is as follows:

Minister March 2011- to date €2,274.12

Minister of State March 2011- to date €2,864.82

Senior Officials 1 Jan 2011- 31 Dec 2011 €1,984.31

A proportion of the expenditure in this area is on official representation for visiting Ministers and senior officials from priority countries. International education is currently worth around €750m directly to the Irish economy, and the Government is seeking to double international student numbers in Ireland. This requires strong inter-governmental relationships with partners in priority markets in Asia, the Gulf and the Americas, which necessitates such official representation for visiting delegations.