Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 24 June 2021

Public Accounts Committee

2018 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 8 - Control of Humanitarian Assistance Funding
2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 27 - International Co-operation
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade

9:30 am

Mr. Niall Burgess:

Yes. We have purchased over recent years where we see an opportunity to do so. We have been opening new missions at quite a rapid rate in recent years. By the end of this year we will have opened 14 new missions in total. The best way to establish a presence on the ground and to understand the market well is to either co-locate with another partner, and in many cases that is done with EU partners or the European Union itself. Once established, we can then look for opportunities for purchase. For example, with recent missions opened in both Bogotá and Santiago and having been established there in the past two to three years, we are looking at purchase options to give us a more sustainable footing in both of those countries in the longer term. It is a part of our thinking and process.