Discussions on priorities for the EU Presidency, the functions which will take place under the auspices of my Department and the resources which will be required to support Presidency activities are ongoing at present. Work on the Presidency has so far been undertaken using existing staffing resources. Accordingly, expenditure to date has been quite small and is limited to about €750 on travel costs in respect of meetings in Brussels with officials of the EU Commission.
The Presidency will involve officials of my Department taking over the Chair of a number of EU Committees which oversee the coordination of social security systems across the EU. In addition, the hosting of a number of other functions including Ministerial meetings or conferences and high level officials meetings is being considered. Discussion on the number and nature of these meetings is at present taking place. It is not possible at this stage to estimate the cost of the Presidency to my Department or the additional staffing resources required until discussions on the overall programme are finalised. My Department's plans must, of course, have regard to the overall budget set by the Government for Presidency activities.