Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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268. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform 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. [53999/13]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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My Department was established in July 2011 and at that time there was a small number of my staff working in Tullamore who had decentralised to Tullamore with the Department of Finance in 2006. As of end 2013 there will be 9 staff in total working in Tullamore in the Training Policy Unit and the Internal and EU Audit Unit.

We are currently identifying the number of trips and the travelling costs incurred by the staff in 2012 and 2013 for meetings in Dublin and will follow up with a more detailed reply when this information is collated. Travel expenses are reimbursed as per the relevant circulars and guidelines.

My Department currently provides a room-based video-conferencing system which is used to facilitate meetings within the Department and also with other national and international bodies. In 2014 the Department will be rolling out a new desk-to-desk video conferencing solution.