Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Programme E covers the Department’s work in marshalling its human and capital resources at home and abroad to maximise Ireland’s influence internationally. It includes the management and development of staff, the management and mitigation of risk and compliance with statutory and legal obligations. The programme also covers communication by the Department of its policies, objectives and activities to citizens at home and abroad.

Pay has increased for the reasons I outlined earlier and the other two budgets are more or less as they were. Capital expenditure is linked to this for new missions. This programme also includes a capital allocation of €9 million under subhead E2, which is non-pay expenditure. A big chunk is for Tokyo but, as I outlined, other new missions are opening and they have to be leased or purchased. Most are leased for the short term, until we can be satisfied we can get good value by buying the right properties in the right places. We need human resources to do this in the shape of property teams to go to places like Santiago, Bogotá and Oman.