Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To take Deputy Barrett first, I acknowledge the service and agree with him about it. The entitlement to a passport is based on citizenship in the first instance and determined by law. There are two automatic categories. If one is born in Ireland or one's parents were born here, that is automatic. Then, one has the grandparent facility, but that is after registration. As such, there is a registration process. Then, there is naturalisation and we have many new citizens in the State as a result of that process. The Deputy is right about having that information available on the Passport Office website. I am sure it is readily available. If there is anything specific that would be of benefit to the Deputy, we will organise its provision.

One of the officials showed me a passport card today. It is useful and it prompted me to apply for one. I admit I do not have one. It will get one around Europe and is handy because it can be kept in one's wallet. Obviously, one needs a passport to get the passport card. If Deputy Barrett does not have one either, we could jointly apply.

He talked about the role of our missions. He is absolutely right that, big or small, they are doing a phenomenal job internationally. I can see that the roles are changing and that they are adapting to new challenges and ways of communicating. The best example of a person using social media is Mr. Dan Mulhall in London who one sees tweeting most days. In the smaller embassies such as the one in Edinburgh, there is a greater capacity to engage with community. It is very bottom up and when one speaks to members of the Irish community or those who have an affinity for Ireland within the Scottish community itself, they talk about the great work that goes on at grassroots level.

I mentioned empathy earlier. The high profile example was Mr. Philip Grant in San Francisco and the work he did during the Berkeley tragedy. At the time, it was a very personal thing for him in his role. I received feedback on that from meeting different people out there and he has had an ongoing engagement. It is the follow-through that is very significant. He is still doing work and different aspects of legislation in California are being looked at. He is still in touch with all the families. That empathy and investment in humanity that all our ambassadors and consuls general demonstrate all over the world is something into which I have been given a bit of an insight. I note the work of Mr. Dónal Cronin in Uganda and I will be meeting with Dr. Vincent O'Neill in Kenya next week where Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan will be joining me. The work Mr. O'Neill's team has done in advance of our visit next week has been going on for months and then there will be the work of following that visit up.

Where Government needs to raise the bar is in terms of our strategic approach internationally, whether sourcing investment or otherwise. That is a message for myself and our political colleagues. It is in the follow-through. Embassies and missions can only do so much as their resources are limited. A whole-of-Government approach to using our State agencies better, including Enterprise Ireland and the IDA, is needed. We have to look at a more strategic approach. The Department of Foreign Affairs is already initiating that. At the moment, it is working on an Asia strategy and last week it was working on an American strategy. It is not just about the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; there has to be a whole-of-Government buy-in across Departments. That will bode well for the future.

Deputy Barrett also mentioned Ukraine and our work there. Ireland makes an assessed contribution to the monitoring mission in Ukraine, which is tasked with monitoring the implementation of the Minsk agreement. This is also a mandatory contribution arising from our participation in the OSCE. We are providing a monitoring role. I acknowledge Deputy Barrett's comments on the challenges out there.

Deputy Lisa Chambers asked a series of questions. If I leave anything specific out or I fail to get back to her, the officials will follow up on some of her observations. She mentioned the reduction and asked what was missing in relation to the assessment and the scale of assessment, which is reviewed at three-year intervals. In December 2015, a new scale of assessment was approved for 2016 to 2018 with Ireland's rate being set at 0.335%, which was down from 0.418%. The reduced rate is the result of Ireland's depressed economic performance over the preceding years. Deputy Chambers was correct to say it was measured against our economic performance. I acknowledge her point that, even during the years which were difficult economically and otherwise, we continued to face our international challenges in a proactive way in relation to our work with different organisations as well as financially. The taxpayer should be constantly reminded of the figure. When I set it out, people are often startled. From 2011 to this year's budget, the Irish taxpayer contributed €4.5 billion in contributions to overseas aid. Notwithstanding the fact that since 2008, some €28 billion came out of the economy and that a great many hard and difficult measures were taken, as the Deputy said herself, the Irish taxpayer still contributed €4.5 billion. It is a phenomenal contribution.

While there are still challenges about getting to the 0.7% target, we can work better in terms of that strategic approach. We should not simply be waiting for the next budget to come along to see if there will be an increase or decrease and, if so, how much it will be. Rather, we should be a bit more ruthless in relation to the 0.7% target and set out a five-year plan. The committee has been working on and made proposals around this and it is important that we are clear about trying to provide a continuum towards the objective of reaching the 0.7% target. On the other hand, as the economy improves the percentage decreases, but that does not make up for the fact that we need to get up to a different place.

I was asked about UN missions. We are in Lebanon, Israel, Syria, Western Sahara, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Ivory Coast and Cyprus. Deputy Barrett asked if we were in Ukraine, but these are the ones we are in at the minute.

A few issues were raised about scale and Deputy Chambers asked how we estimate our contributions. It is difficult. It is a best-guess scenario because everything changes so quickly. I mentioned in the Dáil yesterday some of the figures we got from the International Committee of the Red Cross this week. To take the example of Chad, 9 million people are displaced from that country at the moment, the majority of whom have refugee status in Somalia and Ethiopia. In the context of a total global displacement figure of 65 million, 9 million are from one country alone. In Italy, 25% of refugees are from Eritrea, from which country 5,000 people leave per month. One is looking at the scale of movement and displacement of people and everything is changing. The challenge is absolutely enormous.

I would like to acknowledge all of those involved in peacekeeping meetings as well as Irish Aid, whose personnel I have got to know very well and with which some of the Deputies here have worked very closely over the years.

It is doing great work in terms of rising to the challenge. The responsibility on the EU and UN is massive. The world is changing by the day. We need to also focus on the positives, including the hosting by Uganda, despite its own challenges, of 500,000 people in temporary refugee status. We can draw inspiration from what is being done in places like Jordan, Lebanon and Uganda. While there are positives, the reality is that the challenges are enormous.

In regard to how we estimate our contributions, that is done on a best guess analysis.

My officials will communicate with Deputy Lisa Chambers on any of the questions to which I have not responded. On the OECD, the budget submission was based on the estimated balance of the 2016 contribution and advances on assessed contribution for 2017.