Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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340. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht 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. [53988/13]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, my Department was established in June 2011, assuming a range of functions previously under the remit of a range of Government Departments, including responsibility for the Gaeltacht and the National, Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).

The total number of staff in my Department as at 1 November 2013 is 603, of which 353 are based outside Dublin at a number of different locations. Of these staff, some 78 are based in two locations - at New Road, Killarney (44 staff) and at Newtown Road, Wexford (34 staff) - established under the Decentralisation Programme announced in 2004.

Video conference facilities are available in my Department's offices in Dublin, Killarney, Na Forbacha, Co. Galway, and Wexford and these are used to facilitate meetings between staff based in the various locations and to reduce travel requirements.

However, as the Deputy will appreciate, it is still necessary for staff to travel to Dublin and other locations for a variety of purposes. The appropriate travel and subsistence expenses as set down by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform are paid in respect of such travel.

A summary of all domestic travel costs, including subsistence, reimbursed to staff based in my Department's decentralised offices in Killarney and Wexford during 2012 and 2013 is set out in the table. The cost of travel for these staff attending meetings in Dublin only is not readily available and I am advised that its compilation would involve a disproportionate amount of time and work, which would be difficult to justify.