Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Work under the programme includes: the effective delivery of passport and consular services for citizens; supporting emigrants; deepening engagement with the diaspora; sustaining peace and enhancing reconciliation and political progress in Northern Ireland; increasing North-South and British-Irish co-operation; and promoting our culture, arts and creative industries throughout our embassy network. The amount allocated for the programme in 2016 is €67.3 million, compared to €63.9 million in 2015. The programme is about our people and it covers a number of key priority areas for the Department.

Given the breadth of issues covered by the programme I will just briefly touch on some of them in my introduction. The first relates to consular services and consular assistance. Providing high quality consular assistance and other consular services to Irish citizens at home and abroad is a key objective of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The number of Irish citizens travelling abroad has increased sharply in recent years. We are seeing a most significant increase in the level of requests for consular assistance from the consular division in Dublin and across the mission network overseas. In 2015 we provided assistance in 2,500 separate cases, including more than 250 cases of deaths abroad, and a similar number of hospitalisation cases. That represents a 20% increase in the workload compared to 2014. Statistics for 2016, to date, suggest an even sharper increase, or close to 40% in demand in the past 12 months. We also note a greater frequency of responses to major emergency incidents and critical crisis events. I need hardly recall the deaths of six young men and women in Berkeley or the murder of three Irish citizens in Tunisia a year ago this month. We are conscious also of the increased threat of terrorism in Europe, as demonstrated by the Paris and Brussels attacks, which resulted, unfortunately, in a number of Irish citizens being injured. Much of the work the Department does in the area is less visible, including work that is of a preventative or precautionary nature. We dedicate significant attention to research and communication in the area of travel advice to ensure citizens can make informed decisions about travel and are forewarned of the risks involved.

As members are aware, extensive preparations were put in place for the tens of thousands Irish and Northern Irish fans in France for the European championships. We are all immensely proud of the hugely positive press and social media coverage our fans have been receiving. We could not buy that positive coverage. It is quite remarkable that the events in France are ongoing. We congratulate the team on last night's performance and look forward to further events over the weekend and into next week. A similar level of consular assistance operation is being put in place for Brazil for the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games that are coming up shortly. This area of our work is also driving forward our pursuit of new and innovative means of supporting Irish citizens abroad.

On the eve of the Euros 2016 on 10 June, I was proud to launch the TravelWise smartphone app, which is an important new state-of-the-art tool for improving our communications with the travelling public, ensuring that we keep our citizens safe and well informed while they are abroad. It provides full access to all of our travel advice content, even offline, instant access to our network of 80 permanent embassies and consulates, more than 90 honorary consuls worldwide and enables us to contact citizens to alert them about major incidents and/or changes in security levels in countries where they are travelling or in which they have already registered an interest in visiting. I recommend this travel app to all members and encourage them to promote it among family, friends and constituents. The feedback relating to it has been remarkably positive. I trust that the app is already in full use on the smartphones - of course, those in the room have all been turned off - of all elected Members of the Oireachtas. I ask members to check their phones as we conclude the meeting. Officials from my Department are here to offer assistance in ensuring that the downloads have been adequately and properly effected.

I will now deal with passport reform. In 2015 the Department issued 670,000 passports and 13,500 passport cards, representing a 6.4% increase over 2014. To date this year, 434,000 passport book application have already been received and we are 12% ahead of the number of applications made at the same point last year. The passport card - the first of its type in the European Union - was introduced last year for adult holders of Irish passports and has received the most positive endorsement. As members may know, I launched a significant investment in the passport service to modernise the issuing of passports and improve security, enhance the service provided to citizens. The passport reform programme, involving a combined capital and current budget of €18.6 million, will run from 2016 to 2018. An additional €3.75 million has been allocated for the programme in 2016. I trust the Chairman and all members are adequately equipped with passport cards for ease of travel. I know this committee will be engaging in a considerable amount of travel during the term of the Chairman's tenure and I trust all of the members have been issued with their passport cards. They are very useful. Again, the feedback from the general public has been particularly positive.

The emigrants support programme provides funding to non-profit organisations and projects in order to support Irish communities overseas and to facilitate the development of more strategic links between Ireland and the global Irish. I am pleased to say that funding for 2016, at €11.6 million, remains the same as previous years. The organisations funded provide a range of services from informal community networks and groups for seniors to outreach services and advice in accessing entitlements. The programme also supports projects aimed at creating practical, results-oriented links between Ireland and the global Irish and projects that emerge as a consequence of the work of the Global Irish Economic Forum such as, for example, the development of Irish business alumni and affinity networks. Applications for 400 projects, received from over 230 organisations under the emigrant support programme, are currently being assessed. It is anticipated that the 2016 project allocations will be approved in the coming weeks and that the target of funding more than 200 organisations in 2016 will be met.

In regard to the relationship between Ireland and the UK, today's referendum is uppermost in all of our minds. The position of the Government is quite clear. We want the UK, as our friend, closest neighbour and partner, to remain a member of a reformed European Union but we fully respect that, first and foremost, this is a decision for the UK voters which they are making today as we speak.

As already stated, the programme deals with matters relating to Northern Ireland and delivers funding for projects to bolster peace and reconciliation across the island. The maintenance of peace, stability and economic growth in Northern Ireland remains an absolute priority for the Government. The Government is committed to the full implementation of Stormont House Agreement and A Fresh Start, which provide a framework for continued progress. The reconciliation fund is on track to finance over 100 civil society and community organisations in 2016, drawing on the €2.7 million budget allocation. More than 450 events have taken place around the world, supported by the Department and its embassy network as part of Ireland's 2016 global and diaspora programme, marking the centenary of the Easter Rising.

These events have been very well received both at home and abroad. We are now in the fifth year of the decade of centenaries 1912-1922, marking the events of a century, which shaped the past 100 years of Irish life.

In the matter of culture, the Department's overseas mission network continues to organise and support events of a cultural nature which promote Ireland. Funding has been provided for 266 such events in the first half of 2016 and we will meet our target of 300 value adding events in this regard over the period of a year. With regard to the trends in expenditure to the end of May, the expenditure on this programme remains on target, however due to the significant rise in passport applications the passport service is experiencing significant cost pressures. My Department has deployed additional temporary clerical officers and increased overtime to facilitate increased production on an issue that I know all members of the committee are concerned about and we are anxious to ensure an efficient service delivery to all the applications. I might add that the increased passport issuance has result in increased non-pay costs in passport book application forms and ICT costs. Currently the passport service is approximately €3 million ahead of its budget profile. My officials will continue to closely monitor this demand-led programme.

I thank the Chairman