A total of €384,467 has been returned to the State resulting from an underspend in the presidential allowance during the second term of Michael D Higgins' presidency.
The president is allocated €317,433.96 per calendar year as part of the 1938 Allowance, which is used to support the work of the presidency.
The bulk of the underspend came in 2020 and 2021 when underspends of €184,459.57 and €150,550.11 were recorded.
These years line up with the Covid-19 pandemic, when the activities of the president, including the hosting of events, were greatly curtailed.
Overspends of the presidential allowance were recorded in 2024 and in 2025 (to November) with figures of €9,447.17 and €33,913 over the allowance respectively.
With Mr Higgins' presidency ending in November last year, the allowance for the 2025 period to 10 November was €273,345.91.
The figures were published in the document '2025 - A Year in Review’, which outlines the work undertaken during the last year of Mr Higgins’ presidency.
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During Mr Higgins’ second term, nearly €1.7m (91.5%) of the presidential allowance was spent on events.
Just under €55,000 (2.9%) was spent on foreign travel that was not covered by the President’s Vote or the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Miscellaneous expenses made up €101,409 of the presidential allowance spend, which the presidency said included books, research and stationery.
The latest return is in addition to a previous return of €238,443 of the 1938 Allowance made by Mr Higgins to the Exchequer following the conclusion of his first term.
When the figures for both of Mr Higgins' terms are combined, a total of €622,910 was returned to the State as a result of underspends of the presidential allowance.
Over the course of his two terms, Michael D Higgins returned €2m to the State, comprising of €1,310,491 in Oireachtas and ministerial pensions and €689,474 in presidential pay.
