Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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181. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the amount it cost to run Ireland's liaison office to NATO and Partnership for Peace delegation in each of the years 2010 to 2016; and the amount it is expected to cost in 2017. [12321/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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Ireland has been a member of the Partnership for Peace since 1999. Our engagement with the programme is carried out via a Liaison Office in Brussels.

Ireland’s participation in the Partnership aims to ensure that our Defence Forces have the necessary capabilities to continue to partner effectively and securely with other nations in UN-mandated peacekeeping operations.

The cost of running the Partnership for Peace Liaison Office in the years 2010 to 2016 is set out in the following table. This figure includes staff costs, office costs, building rental and maintenance and other overheads.

It is obviously difficult at this stage to estimate accurately likely operating costs of the Office in 2017, but we estimate that total costs are likely to be similar to provisional operating costs for 2016.