Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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465. To ask the Minister for Defence if he will outline what offices relevant to his Department are located or have been decentralised outside of Dublin; if he will provide the total number of staff in his Department and the number of staff based outside County Dublin as of 2013; the annual cost incurred in 2012 and 2013 respectively for decentralised staff travelling to meetings in Dublin; the number of times staff travelled to individual meetings in Dublin in each of those years; the costs those staff will be reimbursed for; and if his Department has procedures or mechanisms in place such as video conferencing to reduce the cost of travelling for each unit based outside Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53991/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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My Department has decentralised offices in Newbridge, Galway and Roscrea. The total number of staff in my Department is 344, with 334 of these based outside Dublin.

The annual cost in relation to home travel and subsistence payments for staff of my Department is outlined in the table below:

Information on travel to meetings in Dublin is not collated in such a way as to allow for the specific information requested by the Deputy to be extracted from the records.

Every effort is made to minimise travel and subsistence expenditure by managing the location and frequency of meetings and by the use of video conference technology. I am satisfied that all travel & subsistence expenses are paid in line with Department of Public Expenditure & Reform guidelines.