Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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1758. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of credit cards issued to Ministers and officials working in his Department; the amount spent on credit cards by his Department in 2014 and in 2015; the amount of bank interest paid on credit cards in 2014 and 2015; the controls in place to monitor the issuing of and the expenditure on these cards; the controls in place in each agency to monitor expenditure on personally-held credit card bills that are subsequently used to recoup work related expenses; if these controls are being reviewed in view of recent events in agencies funded by the HSE; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24749/16]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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There are a total of 81 low value purchase cards issued to officials in my Department.  Neither I, nor my colleague Minister O'Donovan, have been issued with an official credit card.  The majority of these cards are issued to Coast Guard volunteers as a more cost effective and less bureaucratic means of handing petty cash transactions such as fuel, small safety repairs and maintenance.

€198,102 was spent on these cards in 2014.

€249,597 was spent in 2015.

There was no interest paid as all payments were made on time.

Expenditure is monitored in the first instance by the managers of the cardholders who authorise the card transactions in an electronic card control system.  Transactions are further reviewed and checked by the Finance Division in my Department. The majority of the cards have a limit of €5,000 or less per month, and individual transaction limits of €500 or under.

Personal credit cards may be used for work related expenses. In such cases, officials are reimbursed on production of the credit card statement and appropriate receipts/explanations, in accordance with the appropriate Finance circulars (e.g. travel and subsistence).