John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am speaking on this matter on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, who is unavoidably detained elsewhere on business. The Minister recommends that Ireland exercise its discretion to opt in to this measure, which concerns temporarily moving the seat of CEPOL from Bramshill in the United Kingdom to Budapest in Hungary until a long-term solution for the future of the agency is found. This is a technical amendment to the CEPOL regulation to amend the name of the location from Bramshill in the UK to Budapest. There are no difficulties or significant implications of the amendment from an Irish perspective. Ireland submitted an application to host the seat along with six other countries. The matter was voted on at a JHA meeting of Ministers in October. Ireland is supportive of the decision to locate the college in Budapest.

Hungary is covering a number of costs including cleaning and public utilities which were previously borne by the EU. The permanent location of the seat forms part of discussions on a new Europol regulation in which the Commission seeks to co-locate the agency with Europol in the Hague. These discussions are ongoing. I recommend the matter to the committee.