Mr. Martin Fraser:

Obviously, the cost depends on where the President visits. When it comes to where the President visits, his personal wishes are important, but it is part of the diplomatic statecraft of the State. If countries offer the opportunity to make a state visit or if we offer people the opportunity to make a state visit, it is obviously based on whatever we think is in our national interests and where we want to deepen friendships. The obvious example is the President's visit to Britain a number of years ago. We see incoming and outgoing visits. Obviously, the farther away he goes, the longer he will be there and that will be reflected in the costs of the state visit. He was in Croatia and Greece last year. That would not have cost as much as visiting Africa, Australia or New Zealand. As committee members can see, the cost was a little higher in 2017 and 2016. The differences are in the region of hundreds of thousands of euro, depending on where he visited. It is included in the detail of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade figures. The figures for the Department Defence relate to Army services, including soldiers.