Mr. David Cooney:

There is a local post allowance applied to every post in every embassy.

The cost of living allowance, which is the inflator that applies to countries where the cost of living is higher than in Ireland, applies only in those countries. There is no cost of living allowance in certain other countries. With regard to rent allowance, one has to apply for that and submit invoices every month to get a refund. One has to apply for school fees. An amount for representational allowance is allocated to each embassy for the year and is then allocated to the officers in the embassy. That is recouped after it has been spent.