Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The Department might give us a note in regard to what timeline it is working towards to get that down to an acceptable length of time.

I want to ask about the leasing of embassies and diplomatic relations. This is an issue that comes up each time the Department is with the committee. The Department has 134 leased properties and, between 2017 and 2020, there was an €80 million increase in the cost. How does the Department account for that very sizeable increase? On another point that comes up each time, how does the Department make the decision between purchasing a property and leasing a property in terms of value for money?