Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Question 53: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the additional staff his Department will receive for the Irish Presidency of the EU Council in the first half of 2013; the estimated costs involved in holding the Presidency; the total staff estimated to be needed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2704/12]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is being allocated some 68 temporary additional posts in 2012/2013 in order to plan and fulfil its EU Presidency responsibilities and activities in the first half of next year. The temporary additional staff will be assigned as appropriate at Headquarters and to Irish Missions abroad with Presidency responsibilities, most notably the Permanent Missions to the EU and the UN in Brussels, New York and Geneva respectively. Various recruitment options will be used, including redeployment from elsewhere in the Public Service and internships.

Wider logistical and technical planning is well underway and aims to put in place arrangements to ensure an efficient and cost-effective Presidency. While the costs and overall staffing numbers associated with the Presidency have yet to be finalised, the expectation is that they will be at the lower end of the range for recent EU Presidencies.