Department will not specify how it supervises costs
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THE Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism last night avoided key questions as to what steps it had taken to ensure value for money on ministerial trips.
In response to a series of queries from the Irish Independent, a spokesperson for the department said it had "always adhered to Department of Finance guidelines in relation to overseas travel".
The guidelines from the Department of Finance were recently updated (July 1) and are publicly available on its website -- with departments now required to consider all carriers out of Ireland in order to cut costs. They are also told: "As a general rule, first-class travel should not be used."
Changes were introduced after the Fas controversy, when it was claimed that heads of state agencies were "entitled" to first-class travel.
But some provisions of the guidelines have been in place for years, including one demanding that expenditure on foreign travel and subsistence should be "strictly appraised and monitored".
It now adds: "It is the duty of heads of departments to ensure that only essential travel is undertaken and that the number of officers travelling on official business is kept to a minimum."
Departments are also told that they should ensure that "the best value for money is obtained in respect of each official trip undertaken".
The Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism was specifically asked how overseas trips were monitored, whether Arts Minister Martin Cullen would now be made aware of the costs associated with his planned travel, and what value-for-money criteria were applied in compliance with the guidelines.
The department declined to give specifics, except to assert it complied with the guidelines.
- Senan Molony Deputy Political Editor
