Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 69: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of staff in his Department specifically assigned to monitoring EU policy developments; if these staff are based here or in Brussels; if his Department does not have staff specifically assigned to monitor EU policy developments when last, if ever, were such staff specifically assigned to such a role. [20389/11]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Securing Ireland's interests in the EU and contributing fully to the Union's future development is a core function of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. To this end, the Department has a dedicated European Union division with 28 full-time equivalent staff. The Permanent Representation of Ireland to the European Union in Brussels is also a key resource for EU Division and the Department as a whole in monitoring EU policy developments. Its staff, some 79 persons of whom 40 are posted from the Department's headquarters, is in daily contact with deliberations in the European Union at Working Group, COREPER and Council level, as well as with the Commission and the European Parliament.

Due to the wide-ranging nature of the EU's work, a certain number of staff in other divisions of my Department, notably those in the Political Division and the Development Co-operation Division, devote some part of their time to monitoring EU developments in the policy areas that concern them. This is also the case for staff in Ireland's bilateral embassies in the 26 other EU member states, whose monitoring and reporting on the approach of our partners to EU developments forms an important input into analysis and policy-making at headquarters.