Mr. David Cooney:

Yes and it was significant. The Department alone spent €10 million less than had been estimated. I have the figures to hand. This was as a result of the very good work done across Government. I pay particular tribute to staff in my Department and my colleague, Mr. Tim Moore, who previously worked in Dublin but is now with the permanent mission in New York. Because of the very sensitive, frugal way in which we approached the Presidency we saved a significant amount. All events were hosted in Dublin Castle and all efforts at making savings were pursued. We achieved very good value compared to the cost of any previous Presidency, although the Danes might believe they vie with us, but they have different accounting arrangements. The underspend on the EU Presidency in 2012 was €6.432 million, which was significant. The savings were even more significant across Government, although a good proportion were made in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The saving in my Department alone over the two years for which funding was provided - 2012 and 2013 - was €10.6 million out of an Estimate of €18.4 million. That demonstrates the saving. For the whole of Government, the total amount estimated for the Presidency was €67.3 million and the total spend was €44 million, which was a saving of €25.3 million over the whole of the EU Presidency.