McDowell is top of the bill
The latest figures, covering the first half of this year, show Minister Cowen spent just €28,468 on foreign travel and subsistence almost €4,000 less than Minister McDowell.
Last week the Department of Finance confirmed it had no plans to review TD's expenses.
Expenses figures published last week revealed that the 166 Dáil TDs received more than €7.5m in expenses on top of their wage packet last year, with seven deputies earning more in expenses than their actual Oireachtas salary.
In addition to his foreign travel expenses Minister McDowell spent a further €4,500 on domestic travel and entertainment, bringing his six month expenses bill to over €37,000.
A six-day St Patrick's day trip to China cost more than €6,000 alone according to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
Accompanying the Minister on the costly China trip were his wife Niamh, his special advisor Sinead McSweeney, his private secretary Dermot Woods and his press officer Alan Mulligan.
The entire group travelled business class and stayed in some of China's most expensive and exclusive hotels, including the five star Shanghai Okura Garden and Beijing Palace.
Other high spenders include Minister for Arts, Sport and Culture John O'Donoghue who clocked up more than 20 flights between Dublin and Kerry as well as a hefty bill of over €3,500 to hire an E Class Mercedes in Scotland for two days.
John O'Donoghue has so far this year spent a total of 16,637 on official entertainment and travel and although the Minister is provided with a ministerial car and driver he took 21 flights between Kerry and Dublin to attend official events including the Fianna Fáil race day at Leopardstown.
The Minister's official car is driven separately when he flies in order to pick him up from the airport.
According to the FOI documents, Minister O'Donoghue also flew, at the taxpayers' expense, to attend the launch of the Vintners' Federation annual pub guide on April 14 just as the Government was anxiously trying to crack down on excessive alcohol consumption. The move attracted considerable public criticism at the time.
Other official events for which in-bound flights to Kerry were required include a Kerry Diocesan Youth Club prize giving and a presentation of certificates to the Caherciveen Marian Sailing Club.
Prominent on the list of Cabinet ministers availing of frequent domestic flights was Health Minister Micheal Martin with 20 flights costing over 3,000 between Cork and Dublin. Minister Martin also claimed almost 4,000 on foreign travel, including trips to Geneva and Brussels.
Transport Minister Seamus Brennan spent just over €12,000, including a bill for €9,151 in official entertainment while Tánaiste Mary Harney claimed over €18,000 on travel and entertainment.
Over €5,000 of that went on dinner for members of the US Congress and a lunch for Singapore's minister of trade and industry.
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