Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 19: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of embassies owned by the State abroad; the value of same; if consideration has been given to the disposal of some of these properties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31783/09]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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At present, 37 properties are owned by the State abroad for use as Chanceries and official Residences of Heads of Mission. The estimated total valuation of all these properties is €146 million. However, I would caution that this estimate is subject to the price volatility of the current property market across the globe.

In recent years, and with the support and encouragement of the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Government has provided the Department of Foreign Affairs with some modest capital resources to purchase mission properties abroad where that option, rather than rental, made good business sense. While current resource constraints preclude any further purchases in the near future, it would, in my view, be financially imprudent, not least in the current depressed market situation, to sell existing mission properties abroad and revert to a lease option which would be more costly over the longer term.