Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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Question 172: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the preparations she has undertaken for the Irish Presidency of the EU Council in January 2013; the amount of money spent on EU Council Presidency related activities to date in 2012; the estimated expenditure up to December 2012; the budget for the six-month Presidency specifically; the additional staff she has undertaken; the number of re-assigned staff she has undertaken; the estimated future staff requirements for the Presidency; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8848/12]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Discussions on priorities for the EU Presidency, the functions which will take place under the auspices of my Department and the resources which will be required to support Presidency activities are ongoing at present. Work on the Presidency has so far been undertaken using existing staffing resources. Accordingly, expenditure to date has been quite small and is limited to about €750 on travel costs in respect of meetings in Brussels with officials of the EU Commission.

The Presidency will involve officials of my Department taking over the Chair of a number of EU Committees which oversee the coordination of social security systems across the EU. In addition, the hosting of a number of other functions including Ministerial meetings or conferences and high level officials meetings is being considered. Discussion on the number and nature of these meetings is at present taking place. It is not possible at this stage to estimate the cost of the Presidency to my Department or the additional staffing resources required until discussions on the overall programme are finalised. My Department's plans must, of course, have regard to the overall budget set by the Government for Presidency activities.