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2 September, 2004

Our Reference: FOI/REQ/04/021

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I refer to your recent request under the Freedom of Information Acts 1997 and 2003
for:

1. details of the amounts spent in relation to visits abroad by the Minister for
Foreign Affairs and the Ministers of State at the Department of Foreign
Affairs during the 2004 St. Patrick's Day period; and

2a. Details of taxi costs for the Department for a 12 month period
2b. Details relating to commercial flights for a 12 month period.

As indicated in an earlier conversation with Karl Gardner, part 3 of the request does
not apply to this Department.

Decision Reached

1. Details relating to Visits abroad during the 2004 St. Patrick's Day Period

The Minister for Foreign Affairs did not travel abroad on St. Patrick's Day business
this year.

Minister of State Roche travelled to Hong Kong and Malaysia from 11 March, 2004
until 16 March, 2004. He was accompanied by Mrs Roche and one official. Please
note that the airfare and subsistence costs for the official were not paid for by the
Department of Foreign Affairs but were met by the Department of the Taoiseach. The
total cost of the visit is set out below but you may wish to note that immediately prior
to travelling to Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur, Minister Roche was in Brussels and
Strasbourg on business and the cost of these flights are included in the flight costs set
out below:
 Flights: €11,485.98 (Minister and Mrs Roche incl. Brussels and Strasbourg)
Subsistence: € 446.02 (Minister and Mrs Roche)

Minister of State Kitt travelled to Australia on 13 March and departed on 21 March.

Minister Kitt was accompanied by his wife and an Official. The total costs for the
visit is set out below.

Flights: €16,689.00
Hotels € 4,849.00
Subsistence € 1,503.00

2a. Taxi Costs

For the 12 month period 1January, 2003 to 31 December, 2003, the Department of
Foreign Affairs incurred a bill of€248,307 for taxi fares.

2b. Commercial Flights

During 2003, Ministers and officials would have taken approximately 2,500
commercial flights. Many of these flights would have been to Brussels on EU
business. While the remainder of the flights were to destinations worldwide, a
number in either half of the year, would be to destinations in the country hosting the
Presidency of the EU (ie Greece and Italy).

As Mr Gardner informed you, many of the flights to Brussels or on other EU business

(including travel to the European Councils) may be refundable from the EU. In other
situations, where flights are invoiced in advance but are subsequently not taken (e.g. a
meeting may be postponed), the Department's agreement with our travel agent allows
full refunds for flights cancelled, once notice is given.

Therefore the Department's expenditure on commercial flights in 2003 was:

Total Expenditure: €1,967,1O4.05

Total Refunds: € 79,981.96
Actual expenditure: €1,887,122.09

Right of Appeal

You may appeal this decision. In the event that you need to make such an appeal, you
may do so by writing to the Freedom ofInformation Unit, Department of Foreign
Affairs, 76-78 Harcourt Street, Dublin 2. You should make your appeal within 4
weeks from the date of this notification. However, the making of a late appeal may be
permitted in appropriate circumstances. The appeal will involve a complete
reconsideration of the matter by a more senior member of staff of this Department.
Please note that an application for appeal should be accompanied by a cheque/bank
draft in the amount of€75.

Yours sincerely