Mr. Brendan Gleeson:

It was a three-year contract in respect of the World Food Programme. We have a seat on the executive board of the World Food Programme. It is a mechanism for giving untied aid to the poorest of the poor through that UN programme. It is part of the overall Government commitment to overseas development aid and we are the lead Department on it. The €25 million is the final contribution from our current commitment. As part of the new Government agreement with the World Food Programme, we will have to arrange for future payments. The payment we made in that year was effectively an advance payment. We made another advance payment in 2020 and we will have to come to a new three-year arrangement from 2021 onwards.

Regarding animal welfare, the Deputy asked for the reason for the saving. I do not have the specific explanation for the saving but I can tell the Deputy that the Department takes its obligations relating to animal welfare very seriously. I will come back to the Deputy-----