Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 6 Feb 1996

Vol. 461 No. 1

Written Answers - Ireland's Presidency of the EU.

Colm M. Hilliard

Ceist:

30 Mr. Hilliard asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the estimated cost of Ireland's forthcoming Presidency of the European Union; and the portion of this budget that will be spent on public relations related matters. [2370/96]

Mary Wallace

Ceist:

57 Miss M. Wallace asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the level of outside staffing to be retained for the duration of the Irish Presidency; the purpose of these staff; and the number of civil servants who will be redeployed from their normal tasks for the purposes of the Presidency. [2369/96]

Noel Davern

Ceist:

75 Mr. Davern asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the total moneys allocated for the EU Presidency; the specific amounts allocated to each Department; and the way in which it is proposed to spend such moneys. [2509/96]

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Spring)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 30, 57 and 75 together.

Last year my Department received an additional £3.5 million for Presidency preparations. This year, my Department's allocation for the Presidency is £8.7 million. Some further cost will arise next year because of our continuing membership of the Troika until 30 June 1997 but these cannot be estimated at this stage. Other Departments will also incur expenditure in relation to the Presidency and any questions in this regard should be addressed directly to the responsible Ministers.

Most of the Presidency budget for my Department will be used to cover the cost of salaries for the additional temporary staff to be recruited for the Presidency, extra travel and subsistence expenses, additional communications and IT expenses and additional expenditure on press and information activities.

The allocation for press and information services will be used by the relevant sections of my Department to produce information materials to promote Ireland's image abroad and to provide services for the international media who will be focusing on Ireland during our Presidency. My Department does not have any plans to recruit a public relations firm for Presidency purposes.

Approximately 100 additional staff will be recruited to my Department on a temporary basis for the Presidency. Some 85 of these will be civil servants recruited by the Civil Service Commission from either inter-departmental promotion or recruitment panels. The remaining 15 will be employed directly by my Department on temporary contracts. This includes a small number of retired officers of the Department of Foreign Affairs and locally recruited staff at certain Missions abroad. In addition to the additional temporary staff from outside the Department, approximately 30 officers within my Department will be redeployed for the Presidency.

The temporary Presidency staff will be used to strengthen the divisions of the Department at headquarters and the diplomatic missions abroad which will be most directly involved in the Presidency. These include the political, economic and development co-operation divisions in Dublin, the permanent representation to the European Union in Brussels, the permanent missions to the United Nations in Geneva and New York and the delegation to the Organisation on Security and Co-operation in Europe in Vienna.