Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 126: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide the total amount each 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. [10856/12]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Neither myself, the Ministers of State, or senior civil servants in my Department, have personal entertainment expense accounts. The Department has a general budgetary allocation to cover incidental official entertainment requirements and in 2011 the following amounts were spent:

Vote 28 (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) €95,342

Vote 29 Now vote 27 (International Cooperation) € 8,285

This expenditure is typically incurred on lunches/dinners for visiting official delegations, as well as catering costs for certain larger official meetings hosted by the Department in Dublin from time to time. Expenditure on official entertainment is subject to per capita limits as prescribed by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, and is audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General.