Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

102. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will publish the airline costs for his Department for 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2693/19]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My Department is responsible for two Expenditure Votes, Vote 27 - International Co-operation and Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The airline costs incurred by Ministers and staff of the Department, across both Votes, in the year ending 31 December 2018, including in the network of overseas Missions, was €2,650,469. These costs are provisional and subject to audit. As the Deputy will appreciate, the work of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of necessity involves extensive travel. In 2018 airline costs represented 1.3% of the Department's total administration budget.

My Department complies with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform guidelines on official travel. The central aim of the Departmental travel policy is to minimise official travel costs and to achieve value for money for expenditure necessarily incurred, consistent with the effective discharge of official duties.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

103. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will publish the cost of newspapers in his Department in 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2710/19]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The effective functioning of a Foreign Ministry requires continuous access to the most up to date international and national news. This is more important than ever in the context of Brexit, on which my Department leads. My officials need timely, accurate information from multiple sources in order to navigate effectively in the highly dynamic and complex environment surrounding Brexit and other issues of vital national interest.

In 2018, the Department’s Library and Information Service spent €195,287 on subscriptions to print and digital newspapers for headquarters and missions abroad.