Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 6 March 2014

Public Accounts Committee

2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade
Chapter 13 - Official Development Assistance

12:40 pm

Mr. David Cooney:

Yes, for similar reasons. The OSCE chairmanship was in many ways a dry run for the European Presidency. Many of the efficiencies we achieved in respect of the latter were initiated during the OSCE chairmanship. Another factor in the significant underspend was that we originally estimated the costs based not so much on our own previous Presidency in 2004 but on what other members states had been spending in recent years. Our 2004 Presidency cost €110 million, compared with €42 million this time, which is a significant difference. In fact, we came in significantly lower than most other member states in recent times.