Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Department's work under programme C has been supporting Ireland's economic recovery through effective contribution to job creation, exports, inward investment, education and tourism and building and maintaining strong bilateral relations to promote economic interests abroad. My Department's commitment to advancing Ireland's trade and economic interests in Europe and internationally is set out under the programme. The amount allocated for this programme in 2016 is €27.6 million, which represents a very slight decrease on the 2015 provision of €27.9 million.

With a global footprint of 80 missions, the embassy network has been fundamental to our efforts to restore Ireland's unique international reputation and to drive economic recovery through the promotion of trade, tourism and investment. Working in partnership with state agencies, embassies have made a significant contribution to Ireland's strong economic performance and our ongoing ability to continue to attract foreign direct investment and inward tourism. The new economic diplomacy strategy which launched in January aims to build the capacity of the network to enable our embassies to become more active and to open business hubs for our exporters, which complements the work of the State agencies. The first step is a pilot programme for the local hire of commercial attachéswhich is currently being rolled out at five embassies in the emerging markets where Ireland has recently opened missions. Trade promotion funds will be expanded and developed under this initiative.

With regard to the St. Patrick's Day period and the export trade council, this year the council has already formally met on two occasions in January and June. The latter meeting had a particular focus on the UK referendum. Between the January and June meetings, there were also separate informal meetings with the private sector and with Government and State agencies. All 27 priority markets have prepared local market plans for this year and the seven designated exploratory and high-potential markets have also submitted plans for their activities this year.

The OECD programme involves a contribution to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which was €2.2 million in 2015. This is a mandatory contribution and is expected to rise to about €2.5 million for 2016. With regard to the financial position at the end of May, our expenditure remains broadly on target.