Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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281. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the total costs of accommodation and travel expenses associated with his recent foreign trip, or foreign trips by Ministers for State at his Department, for St Patrick’s Day; and if a breakdown can be provided on travel costs, accommodation costs, country/state visited, number of departmental staff accompanying him, and the duration of the trip, in tabular form. [14745/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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St. Patrick’s Day offers a unique opportunity to promote Ireland’s economic and political interests overseas, with levels of publicity and media attention unmatched by the national day of any other country. This year I travelled to the United States of America for the St. Patrick’s Day period, where I undertook a comprehensive programme of political, economic and civic engagements in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia. Aditionally, Minister of State Malcolm Noonan travelled to Austria, Slovakia, Czechia, and Romania and Minister of State Kieran O’Donnell travelled to Croatia and Slovenia.

The total costs of the visits have not yet been finalised. Outstanding invoices will be submitted in due course through the Department of Foreign Affairs for reimbursement by my Department, and will include hotel costs, local transportation, and other miscellaneous costs. My Department regularly publishes the details of Ministerial travel costs on the Departments website. Those details can be accessed using the following link: opendata.housing.gov.ie/dataset/?q=ministerial.

The costs submitted to date in respect of the 2023 St. Patrick’s Day overseas travel programme are detailed in the following table:

*Lunch hosted by the Minister and paid by Official Credit Card.