Mr. Niall Burgess:

I am conscious of time. I will give the Deputy as succinct an answer as I can on that. First, I am acutely conscious of leasing versus purchasing. We know that where we have purchased before, in the long term, that has delivered much more value for the State. We have been looking for opportunities where we can save in the long term and provide a better platform for promoting Ireland through purchase. In a way, Ireland House in Tokyo is probably the best example of that on the ground at the moment. Construction has not yet begun. We are still in detailed discussion with IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, Tourism Ireland and the other agencies and interested partners on the precise fit-out of that building and on the exact requirements they need for their own platforms in Japan over the next ten or 15 years.

We are taking a long-term view here.

The site was purchased for €7 million and it is a premium site in Tokyo. It was a discount of 40% to 50% on the commercial value of the site. We hope to put that project out to tender in the early autumn and begin work on construction of the site in the spring. The timescale has fallen adrift but only by a few months. It has not been materially affected by Covid-19.