Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 526: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the annual cost of the new scheme introduced for the provision of drivers for Ministers in 2011 and to date in 2012; if he will provide a comparison of the annual cost of the provision of civilian drivers and the Ministers using their own cars with the previous scheme of Garda drivers and State cars. [25379/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Government introduced a number of changes for the provision of Office Holder transport during 2011. One of the consequences of that decision was that the transport arrangements in place for Ministers of State became applicable to Government Ministers, subject to very limited exceptions on security grounds. In addition, it was decided that former Presidents and Taoisigh would only be supplied with official transport for important State occasions. The revised transport arrangements came into operation for Government Ministers on 1st May 2011 and for former Office Holders on 16th June 2011.

The Garda Commissioner is the Accounting Officer for the Garda Vote. In that context, I am informed by the Garda authorities that total expenditure on the provision of Office Holder transport in 2011 and to date in 2012 is outlined in the table below. The costs arising in 2011 included costs associated with the provision of this service prior to and after the change of Government, including under the new transport arrangements:

The Garda authorities do not have details of Ministerial transport costs which are not charged to the Garda Vote. However, significant savings have been achieved within the Vote and I understand that, overall, the revised arrangements have considerably reduced the level of expenditure on Ministerial transport.