Mr. David Cooney:

Largely, what we have to pay for is the hosting of informal meetings here and the provision of normal Presidency requirements, including stationery. Most of the money was spent hosting meetings, of which there were more than 100 in Ireland. We centralised everything. All the meetings were held in Dublin Castle whereas during previous Presidencies we had meetings around the country. There was real restraint as to costs of catering and we attracted sponsorship for the provision of transport. It was something we could feel a genuine sense of achievement about.