Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his priorities for the Irish Presidency of the EU Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50175/12]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The jobs and growth agenda remains the main priority of Ireland’s upcoming Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Tackling the effects of the financial crisis will remain an important challenge for the Union, but the focus must now shift to creating the conditions for economic recovery and job creation. Delivery on concrete initiatives, building on the Compact for Jobs and Growth is a core objective of our Presidency. During the next six months as Presidency, Ireland will also work to make progress on measures aimed at strengthening internal and external trade. A strong emphasis will be attached to enhancing the EU’s trade links with the third countries to facilitate and increase EU exports, and to boost levels of Foreign Direct Investment into the EU.

Ireland will host an informal Ministerial meeting during its Presidency focussed on EU-US trade and we hope to advance a mandate for EU-US trade negotiations. Within the EU, the Presidency will work intensively to better equip the single market to deal with rapidly growing sectors of the economy, including the digital economy. Ireland will work across a number of Councils during its Presidency to advance dossiers to stimulate growth in the digital economy in areas ranging from Cyber security, to e-Identification, and from Data Protection and to high-speed broadband rollout. Ireland will also host the annual Digital Assembly in June 2013. Fighting unemployment, and particularly youth unemployment, will also be a major priority of the Presidency and will be the main focus of a meeting of Employment and Social Affairs Ministers in Dublin next February. The Minister for Education and Skills has also made the promotion of greater access to skills and training a major priority including through reaching agreement on the “Erasmus for All” programme.

Ireland will make sure that we use our Presidency to identify and stimulate areas of the economy that have the potential to deliver sustainable future growth and smarter jobs. For this reason the Presidency will work to make progress on reaching agreement on the EU’s Horizon 2020 framework programme for research and innovation. A further priority will be sharpening European competitiveness by working to complete the European Research Area. A number of conferences will be held during the Presidency in the innovation area, aimed at ensuring broader participation, including by SMEs, in the Union’s future research funding schemes. But Europe’s economy can only grow and develop if there is stability and consumer, business and investor confidence grows. The Presidency will work to restore stability by managing the effective implementation of the EU’s economic governance measures, and in particular the European Semester process. This, combined with existing EU programmes including the European 2020 Strategy, provides a blueprint for economic reform and growth. The Presidency will also work intensively to restore confidence to the EU’s financial services sector through building agreement on the Banking Union proposals.

I look forward to the Irish Presidency programme being published later this year. Throughout November members of the Government will continue to meet with EU partners and with several delegations from the European Parliament for discussions in preparation for Ireland’s Presidency.

Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the cost to the State of hosting the Presidency of the EU. [44571/12]

Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the budget for the Irish Presidency of the EU Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50177/12]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 31 and 32 together.

An overarching focus of the Government in planning for Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union during the first half of 2013 is to run an efficient and cost-effective Presidency. The Government decided in December 2011 to allocate a budget in the order of €60m over 2012 and 2013 to resource the Presidency, which excludes security costs. This budget is broadly in line with budgets for recent Presidencies and is less than the cost of the Irish Presidency in 2004 when taking all expenditure into account, the total cost was an estimated €110m.

An effectively managed Presidency will deliver long-term reputational benefits for Ireland. Short-term benefits include significant stimulus for the local economy from an influx of up to 15,000 delegates, press and representatives of NGOs who will use local services including hotels, restaurants, taxis etc. over the six month Presidency period. The use of Dublin Castle and a small number of other state-owned venues mainly in Dublin to host most Presidency meetings will reduce venue hire, transport and set-up costs, not to mention significantly reducing the “carbon footprint” of the Presidency.

The procurement of most logistical requirements for the Presidency is being centralised to reduce costs, reduce administrative burden, and increase efficiencies. Procurement is being carried out on a collaborative basis involving principally my Department, the Department of the Taoiseach, the National Procurement Service and the Office of Public Works. Purchasing is being conducted in a transparent and competitive basis in compliance with relevant EU and national rules.