Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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28. To ask the Taoiseach the amount spent by his Department on taxi and-or limousine fares in the past two years to date by year and amount. [35495/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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My Department has a taxi account for official business purposes with a company selected by the Office of Government Procurement following a public tender. Taxis are used for official purposes where there is no other practical or suitable alternative mode of transport available.

Expenditure on taxis from January 2015 to end-June 2017 is set out in Table A. In addition, the sum of €1,800 was spent in 2015 on domestic car hire to transport relatives to the State funeral for Thomas Kent.

When I or Ministers of State assigned to my Department undertake trade missions, bilateral engagements with foreign Heads of State or Government, etc., it is normally necessary for Embassies to hire ground transport vehicles, such as cars and people carriers/mini-buses – not least for security purposes. Expenditure on foreign ground transport from January 2015 to end-June 2017 is set out in Table B.

Details of expenditure related to Foreign Travel, including ground transport, are published on my Department's website on a monthly basis.

Table A:TAXIS

2015

2016

2017 (to end June

Table B:GROUND TRANSPORT (foreign)