Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have two brief comments. Regarding the Washington property, negotiations are at a final stage. I have indicated where approximately that is. What I expect will happen is the existing property will go on the market and that will come back in to the Irish coffers in due course. We are seeing the gross outlay at this stage but there will be a net flow back in due course when the existing property is sold. I hope we get a good price for the Irish taxpayer.

Finally, in respect of the additional €7 million from the Passport Office, it is always difficult to predict at the beginning of the year how many passports will be applied for. We had slightly more than 1 million last year and we expect to be almost at 1 million again this year. People may not have expected it to be high because last year was a record after Covid, however, it is strong again this year. That is why we have more funding coming in than we would have anticipated this time last year for the current year as part of the original estimate. It is good to see it.