Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Health the cost of drivers of each vehicle assigned to him and Junior Ministers in his Department since March 2011; the mileage and other costs claimed in respect of each since March 2011; the overall yearly costs of Ministerial cars in 2010; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12460/13]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The Minister for Health and the Ministers of State are all required to use their own cars and the salary costs for drivers and mileage expenses since March 2011 are broken down as follows:

In addition a total sum of €6805 was paid in respect of tolls for all Ministers.

My Department was not responsible for paying the cost of Garda drivers and State Cars etc. under previous arrangements in place in 2010. However, on 25th April 2012 my colleague, Mr Noonan, T.D., Minister for Finance, in response to a Parliamentary Question, indicated that the average cost of transport for Ministers under that previous arrangement was €280,000 per annum per Minister. This appears to be significantly more expensive than current arrangements.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Health the number of credit cards issued to staff and Ministers in his Department and the total costs of each card since March 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12479/13]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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There are two corporate credit cards for official business purposes currently in use in my Department. A Bank of Ireland Visa credit card is issued to my Private Secretary and a second card is issued to a nominated officer in my Department's Finance Unit. This card is used to cover a range of costs such as publications, seminar and conference fees, annual membership fees, transport costs and software purchases where payment by credit card is required. The total amount of the transactions on each card since March 2011 are €16,321 and €13,054 respectively.