Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will deal with the last point first. The Chairman made a good point regarding the importance of funding from the Peace and Reconciliation Fund. I acknowledge the Chairman's comments. It is a vitally important source of funding for many communities that are still suffering from division and are recovering in a post-conflict society. I take the Chairman's point about the early disbursement of funding, but he will be aware that we receive hundreds of applications. It is important that each and every application is gone through in order to ensure that they meet the strict criteria involved.

We currently have two funding rounds a year. New applicants are always welcome alongside many of the more established organisations that have benefited and continue to do very good work. The closing date for the receipt of applications for the next round of funding is 10 March, which is approaching. I therefore ask committee members to alert any interested parties at the earliest opportunity. After that March round, the second round will be open in the autumn.

I remind members and all interested parties that full details and information regarding the fund and the criteria in respect of application and the manner in which the application can be made are available on the website.

Deputies Grealish, McLoughlin and Darragh O'Brien asked about passports. Deputy O'Brien mentioned that the central passport location is situated in his constituency. All Deputies will be aware that volumes of passport applications are particularly high at the moment. Deputy Grealish is right in his contention that public representatives should continue to ensure there is a public information campaign that asks people to check their validity of their passports and those of their children. I know the Passport Office will continue to do this. People need to be able to choose the correct passport channel. I think that has given rise to issues in recent times. It is stated on the application form and the website that applicants should not book their travel plans until they have received their passports. My advice continues to be that applicants should allow six weeks for the receipt of their passports in order to ensure there is no disappointment. Queries often arise with regard to application forms. Documentation can be incomplete, or the quality of the photograph might not be sufficient to meet the appropriate security requirements. I advise people to allow six weeks.

I remind Deputies that citizens who are travelling in three weeks or more can avail of the convenient and cost-effective passport express facility, which is available through post offices. At a time when rural Deputies are concerned about the future viability of rural post offices, it is important that this service is provided for through all post offices here and 70 post offices in Northern Ireland. It is important for it to be adequately recognised that the current turnaround time for renewal applications made through the passport express facility is 15 working days and not five or ten working days. I ask applicants for passport renewals to regard 15 working days as the appropriate time they should allow to ensure their new passports can be issued and returned to them in time. First-time applications take a little longer due to the additional security checks that are required. In addition to the orthodox passport application area and the passport express facility, a third stream is available to those who need to travel at short notice. We hope to be able to provide a satisfactory outcome in such circumstances within the timeframe that is sought. We advise people who need to make emergency or urgent applications to go online to book an appointment at one of the passport offices in Dublin and Cork.

I acknowledge that this is a very important issue for public representatives. As a Deputy who represents a rural constituency, I am aware that this engagement forms a considerable part of our duties. Later this spring, we will announce online improvements which should considerably benefit citizens in making online applications for passport renewals. I note Deputy Grealish's point regarding e-mail responses. I accept it is important for us to work in that area. We intend to ensure a first-class customer service is available to people who do not have e-mail accounts or may not be living in close proximity to passport offices. The capital funding mentioned by Deputy Darragh O'Brien will allow for the installation of the new advanced computer system. We have received very positive feedback from the public about our new building - Knockmaun House - and its surrounds in Mount Street and the level of efficiency there. At a time when application numbers are high, the staff of the Passport Office and the Department are endeavouring to ensure a first-class level of service is offered to all applicants.

Reference was made to a spike in passport applications. I acknowledge that there has been an increase. We do not ask people who are filling in passport application forms to state the reasons they are making such applications. Our concern is to ascertain whether people qualify for Irish passports. It is fair to say that there has been a considerable degree of new-found interest in passport applications from Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Most passport applications from both sides of the Border are made through the post office network. That remains the most efficient and effective way to apply for a passport. Applications can be submitted through all post offices in this jurisdiction and up to 70 post offices across Northern Ireland. An online option for passport renewal will be offered to citizens in the next few months.

I am satisfied that the existing range of service options meets the current needs of passport applicants. I am not convinced by the arguments made in favour of the proposal to locate new passport offices in certain parts of the country, including those mentioned by Deputy Darragh O'Brien. Proposals have also been made in respect of other parts of the country and places outside this jurisdiction. I am confident that the introduction of the online passport application option will result in an even greater level of efficiency. We will have an opportunity to test this later in the year. I am confident that turnaround times will be reduced further, even in the context of additional applications. I will be happy to keep the matter under review and to take guidance at any point from this committee and its members.

The proposed withdrawal of the UK from the EU presents us with a monumental challenge over a range of issues, including our invisible Border. I can say in response to the Deputies who asked about the Border that I have raised this issue in my discussions with the UK Foreign Secretary, Mr. Johnson, MP, and the UK Secretary of State for Leaving the European Union, Mr. Davis, MP, who was in Ireland before Christmas. I am in ongoing discussions on this issue with the UK Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, James Brokenshire, MP, who was in Dublin on Tuesday. I am satisfied that our concerns in this regard have been fully accepted, acknowledged and realised by my UK counterparts. It was significant that in her statement introducing the White Paper that was published by the British Government recently, the UK Prime Minister, Theresa May, specifically referenced Northern Ireland and the Border issues.

I am aware of the concerns and anxieties in the Border area, particularly in the constituencies of the Chairman and Deputy McLoughlin. This issue is a priority for the Government. We have raised it in our discussions with our UK counterparts. I have raised it with each of my foreign minister colleagues across the EU. The peace process is of fundamental importance. Anything that has an adverse impact on the Good Friday Agreement, or disrupts it in any way, will be wholly unacceptable to the Irish Government. Members will be aware of the excellent great strides that have been made in North-South relations since the Good Friday Agreement.

These strides have been possible because of the invisible nature of the Border that I crossed only last Saturday travelling from Carlingford in County Louth along a minor road into Newry. Members will be aware of the invisible nature of the Border and I have sensitised all my European Union colleagues to that effect. I am satisfied the British Government is aware of the position and we must work towards that. That is in the context of negotiations, which, incidentally, have not yet started. We are not negotiating with the British and we will be negotiating firmly with the EU 27. This issue will form part of the negotiations. Ultimately, it is not something that will be decided by ourselves and the British Government but it will be decided in the context of the negotiation between the European Union and the UK.

Deputy Darragh O'Brien made a point regarding funding. The North-South Ministerial Council is not currently operating in the manner in which we all would have expected because of the electoral cycle in Northern Ireland and we are now in an election process. I call on all parties involved with the election campaigning that as soon as the results are announced with the votes counted, everybody elected and their respective party leaders should sit around the table at the earliest opportunity to ensure that an Executive can be up and running in a positive and constructive way in Northern Ireland. It is important in itself in the context of the Agreement but there are specific Brexit issues that must be addressed. I am satisfied the level of funding to allow for North-South engagement in the matter of Brexit is sufficient. I acknowledge what is implicit in the Deputy's question, which is the need to ensure we have an intense level of engagement with our UK colleagues and Northern colleagues in the new Executive in order to ensure the priorities of the Irish Government from an all-island perspective are fully appreciated. Those include the maintenance of an invisible Border.

I will revert to Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan's issues in the appropriate programme. I do not envisage cases where our funding will not be continued on the basis of our proposals. We keep our embassy complement under review. There were a number of specific areas where urgent works were required in terms of the safety of buildings; I refer in particular to a programme of work in Paris. There are also a number of embassies where for security reasons we need to update the buildings and their curtilage. That is having regard to a number of international terrorist attacks and we must ensure our people and their teams are safe. That is an ongoing programme but we highlight areas of urgency and importance. Funding is always a matter of challenge in that regard and our embassy network forms part of our ongoing engagement with my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. On the matter of new embassies, such issues are always under review. In the context of the UK's withdrawal from the European Union, our longer-term review issues might now be subject to a shorter-term review. We must intensify our markets overseas and that will involve the development of further programmes launching early next month. There is also the matter of our trade priorities for the year and we can consider new embassies that we opened in the past 18 months. In this context I refer to areas such as Nairobi in Kenya, Austin in Texas, Hong Kong, Jakarta in Indonesia and Bangkok in Thailand. There are already reports coming in from these embassies that demonstrate a significant amount of activity in terms of bilateral relations with these countries with particular reference to trade and economic development. I will be happy to keep the committee fully informed in that regard. We are looking at other areas. This committee and Members asking foreign affairs questions in the Chamber have made me aware of the political, economic and trade factors with particular reference to Iran and this is under review in line with other areas. In the meantime, the embassy of Ireland in Ankara in Turkey has accreditation to Iran. We are represented in Iran by an honorary consul but we will continue to review matters, having regard to the range of factors we have in considering our diplomatic representation overseas. Deputy Grealish made an important point about our relationship with the UK. In countries where we do not have a resident full-time mission, consular engagement in that regard has been very important and that will continue. However, our relationship with the UK is not the only one we have with like-minded countries. I acknowledge the assistance we get in many countries from the French and German Governments, for example, as well as other EU Governments. I make specific reference, however, to the important engagement and relationship that we have with our nearest neighbour.

I will ask the Minister of State, Deputy McHugh, to deal with diaspora issues and the undocumented Irish in the US.