Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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705. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of civilian and Garda ministerial drivers in his current corps of drivers; the breakdown of the civilian versus Garda drivers; and the total costs, including salaries, maintenance, fuel and so on incurred by the driver corps in 2020 and 2021. [3964/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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In common with many Government Departments, my Department has a number of civilian drivers appointed to support my work and that of the two Ministers of State. There are no Garda drivers assigned.

In 2020, there were four drivers assigned until after the creation of the position of Minister of State with responsibility for land use and biodiversity when two additional drivers were engaged. There are currently six drivers in total.

The costs requested are set out in the table below. Please note that the Department does not pay for fuel, maintenance, insurance etc. Such costs are factored into the prevailing Civil Service mileage rates.