 On 17 April 2013, he replied ""The Government decision in November 2011 to close our resident embassy to the Holy See was taken with considerable reluctance as part of a necessary budget process to reduce costs.The closure of the resident embassy to the Holy See has yielded substantial savings, not least as it enabled the significantly larger embassy to Italy and the residence of the ambassador to Italy to be relocated to the State-owned Villa Spada, formerly occupied by the embassy to the Holy See, thereby saving €445,000 per annum in rent on two properties.Ambassador Cooney travels to Rome regularly and was present for the inauguration of Pope Francis, to which he accompanied the President and the Minister for Finance who represented the Government and subsequently at the Pope’s meeting with the Diplomatic Corps.