Maeve O'Connell (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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1496. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality to report on the reasoning that informs his Department's edition of the 2025 Revised Estimates for Public Services’ 38% annual increase in the funding provided for under the administration heading ‘travel and subsistence’, when compared to the estimate for 2024. [20877/25]

Maeve O'Connell (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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1497. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality to report on the reasoning that informs his Department's edition of the 2025 Revised Estimates for Public Services’ significant increase in the funding provided for under the administration heading, ‘policy reviews, consultancy services and research’ when compared to the estimate for 2024. [20878/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1496 and 1497 together.

I am informed that the original estimate for the Justice Vote (Vote 24) under the administration subhead “policy reviews, consultancy and research” was €1,404,000 which was revised downwards in the context of the supplementary estimates process towards the end of 2024. This saving fed into the estimate of €273,000 published in the 2025 REV. Underspends can occur for a variety of reasons. I am informed that there was no increase in the allocation from 2024 to 2025.

The funding for travel and subsistence was increased from €804,000 in 2024 to €1.1 million in 2025. I understand that increases were applied from 1 January 2025 to the rates applicable to overnight subsistence and general subsistence. Additionally, it is anticipated that, as part of preparations for Ireland’s Presidency of the EU in 2026, there will be an increase in EU-related travel in 2025.