The Northern Ireland Executive’s office (TEO) in Brussels has cost the taxpayer more than £6 million since the UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016.
According to the Executive Office, its Brussels office represents the interests of the Northern Ireland Executive in Europe, working to “ensure that its interests are understood by a range of key European and other stakeholders in the global hub that is modern Brussels.”
The cost of the office in Belgium has been revealed by TEO following an Assembly Written Question (AWQ) from TUV MLA Timothy Gaston.
The office’s budget has remained largely consistent in the last decade at more than £800,000 per financial year.
Although the total budget dipped to £760,480 in the most recent financial year of 2023/24, it still brought the total spend on the office since the Brexit vote in 2016 to £6,740,324.
The figures provided by The Executive Office show that more than £15 million has been provided to run the office since 2008.
The largest annual spend on the Brussels office recorded since the Brexit vote was in 2021/2022, when it cost a total of £923,248.
There are currently 11 members of staff based at the Northern Ireland Executive Office in Brussels, together with two members of staff from Invest NI.
Some are employed by the Executive Office, some are locally employed and others are from a range of departments in the Executive.
Its key priorities are listed as; to assist the Executive to further the aims of its Programme for Government through supporting Northern Ireland’s European engagement; to assist Northern Ireland Departments to contribute to EU policy development and implementation in relation to their core business areas and to increase Departmental engagement with elective European funding programmes; to raise the positive profile of Northern Ireland in Europe and among its institutions.
However, TMr Gaston has raised concerns over the spend on the European office.
“The spend on the Northern Ireland Executive Office in Brussels – over £6.7 million since the UK voted to leave the EU – will doubtless cause many to raise eyebrows, not least because I am sure I am not alone in not being clear as to what it actually does,” Mr Gaston told The Irish News.
“Such a large investment of public money is something we would expect to see more openness about. It would appear to me that in relation to this – as with so much in the Executive Office – there is little regard for public money.
“I also cannot help but contrast this lavish spend on the Executive’s Brussels office with the fact that InterTrade UK – which was heralded by the DUP as a major achievement to address the challenges posed by the Protocol – doesn’t have offices, has no independent budget and no staff.
“This spend is something I intend to probe further in the Executive Office Committee”.
The Executive Office has been contacted for comment.
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