Sponsors sought for EU costs

The cash-strapped Government is seeking commercial sponsors to help offset some of the estimated €60m cost of staging the EU presidency next year.

This follows the Department of Foreign Affairs seeking tenders from commercial sponsors for events and other opportunities during the six-month-long presidency term, starting in January of next year.

The Government is anticipating that the presidency — which will involve the staging of about 160 meetings — will cost €60m, and the estimate does not include security costs.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday: “There is no limit to the commercial sponsorship opportunities that will be considered.

“The department is open to all proposals for the direct provision of appropriate presidency-related goods, services or facilities or for the funding of such goods and services.

“Examples where sponsorship may come into play are in the areas of catering and hospitality, transport, ICT services, cultural events and mementoes for visiting delegations and media.”

The spokeswoman pointed out that “the current budget is less than that for presidency 2004 and is broadly in line with budgets for recent presidencies”.

The money will be used to cover the cost of managing the presidency in Brussels, where staffing in the permanent representation will be more than doubled, as well as managing the events in Ireland.

She said: “The Government’s focus is to run an efficient and cost-effective presidency and to this end it aims to run with a smaller programme of events. 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 and set-up costs.

“The use of centrally located venues will also reduce expenditure on transportation and logistics. The procurement and provision of most presidency services are being centralised to reduce costs and increase efficiencies.

“It is expected that investment in the presidency will deliver long-term reputational benefit for Ireland and will also bring some short- term benefits such as revenue generated by visiting delegations and the use of local services.”