Spring to travel over 150,000 miles in '96

DURING 1996 Mr Dick Spring will travel around the world the equivalent of six times, clocking up roughly 152,000 air miles.

The Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs this month joined the EU Troika, the foreign ministers of current, past and future presidencies who look after the EU's diplomacy. He assumes the presidency of the Council of Foreign Ministers in June, and will make a minimum of 43 foreign trips and spend at least 80 days abroad this year.

His travels will include visits to Bosnia and Rwanda, Latin America (probably), Bangkok, Jakarta, Australia and New Zealand (probably) and the US, as well as several eastern European capitals and all EU capitals. The Taoiseach will also visit these capitals before the December 1996 Dublin EU summit.

The mileage is based on rough calculations made from the Tanaiste's provisional calendar, which notes that there may also be trips to Iran, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Malta as well as to London on Anglo Irish business.

The President, Mrs Robinson, also has extensive commitments to international travel, the heaviest of her presidency so far, diplomatic sources say. They include official and personal visits to the US (February), England and South Africa (March), Stockholm, Paris and Iceland (May), Britain and the US again (June), Oxford (July), Boston (October), and London and Edinburgh (November).

The Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, likely to spend more than 29 day abroad on 14 trips, totalling 58,000 miles. And the of State at the Department Foreign Affairs, Mr Gay Mitchell (European affairs) and Ms Joan Burton (development co operation), will make 13 and 16 trips respectively, with mileages of 18,600 and 96,000 each.

Ms Burton's schedule includes visits to South Africa, Latin America, New York, the Middle East and Western Samoa. Mr Mitchell is confined to the drearier routine of Brussels and Strasbourg, where every committee of the parliament and such bodies as the Committee of the Regions and the Economic and Social Committee are likely to demand considerable amounts of his time.

Mr Spring has already been to Cyprus, Palestine and Innsbruck this month, and yesterday to Brussels. At the weekend he is due to attend the Davos world economic forum in Switzerland and two weeks later he makes an official visit to Norway.

The calendar also lists 26 visits to Dublin by foreign delegations during the year, six ministerial meetings and the summit that Ireland hosts as part of its presidency. There may also be summits with the US, Russia and Canada.

Asked how he would cope with also being Tanaiste and leader of the Labour Party, Mr Spring said the secret was "in planning ... and getting up early.