Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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165. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the ministerial transport costs for the years 2010 to 2013, inclusive, for each Minister and Minister of State in her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44888/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The cost of ministerial transport in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 is €101,974, €158,723, €198,184 and €212,210 respectively. These figures include the salary of the civilian drivers for the Minister and Minister of State, the subsistence costs incurred by the drivers and the amount of travel and subsistence paid to the Minister and the Minister of State.

Cabinet Ministers with the exception of An Taoiseach, An Tanáiste and the Minister for Justice now provide their own car and are assigned 2 civilian drivers similar to the practice for a Minister of State. As a result of this there are 4 civilian drivers at my Department since 2011.

All Cabinet ministers in the last Government were provided with a state car and drivers who were members of An Garda Siochána. The current Government on taking office decided to dispense with this practice due to its prohibitive cost, so while the cost incurred to this Department for Ministerial transport has increased primarily due to the employment of 2 additional Civilian Drivers, the overall cost of providing transport for Cabinet Ministers has been reduced considerably.