Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is shocking. I felt that because there is a surplus this year, I should make a case to try to use some of that money to keep people who find themselves in pretty horrific circumstances alive.

It was subsequently announced on budget day that additional funding of €30 million, which was agreed over a relatively short period, would be allocated to Vote 27 for this purpose. This will have the effect of bringing the net Revised Estimate to €633.902 million, compared to the original Estimate of €603.902 million.

Ireland is deeply concerned by the worsening food security situation in the Horn of Africa. The region is experiencing its most severe drought in more than four decades. Four consecutive failed rainy seasons have resulted in high levels of acute food insecurity and rising malnutrition. More than 36 million people have been affected, with the epicentre of the drought focused on parts of Somalia, Ethiopia and northern Kenya. The wider food crisis has been exacerbated by ongoing conflict and political turmoil, climate shocks, and the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Food prices are spiking in many drought-affected areas, due to a combination of macroeconomic challenges, below-average harvests and rising prices for food and fuel on international markets. This has triggered a cascade of consequences for millions across the greater Horn of Africa region.

There is a narrow window of opportunity to prevent widespread famine and we must grasp it. Working through trusted partners on the ground, including the UN and Irish NGOs, Ireland’s funding will support the most vulnerable communities across the region. Our intention is to focus on life-saving health, nutrition, water and sanitation and cash responses. The immediate priority is to save lives but funding will also begin to lay the groundwork for longer term resilience and development. In 2022, Ireland has already provided more than €70 million in direct assistance to countries in the region. However, the international response to the drought in the region remains drastically underfunded, with humanitarian funding gaps of more than 50% evident across some of the affected countries. I hope members of the committee will agree that this additional funding is vital and urgent.

I will let members know where the extra €30 million is going. Some €5 million will go to Irish NGOs, €5 million to UN country-based pool funding in Somalia, €3 million to UN country-based pool funding in South Sudan, €3 million to Sudan, €1 million to a drought flash appeal in Kenya and €5 million to a managed fund in Ethiopia. We are also putting €5 million through what is called the Central Emergency Response Fund, CERF, which is managed by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA. From my experience, that organisation is arguably the best way of getting funding quickly to areas that desperately need it because of its infrastructure on the ground. We are putting €5 million into seven Irish NGO partners currently in receipt of grants, namely, Trócaire, Concern, World Vision, Oxfam, Christian Aid, GOAL and Plan International. We are putting €2 million into the UN Population Fund, UNFPA, which, as members know, has a focus on women and girls, particularly in Somalia, Sudan and Kenya, and €1 million is going to the regional Nairobi UNOCHA country offices, which also focuses on South Sudan, Somalia and Kenya. We have to spend money in a very short window so we have to rely on trusted partners, which is why we are relying on UN partners that we work with and Irish NGOs we have long-standing partnerships with and have complete trust in, when it comes to transparency and so on. That is the €30 million under Vote 27.

Turning to Vote 28, the requested net Revised Estimate is €335.395 million, compared to the original Estimate of €251.395 million, that is, an increase of €84 million. This takes account of an anticipated saving of €1 million on expenditure for the Expo in Dubai. One of the reasons that Expo cost a little less than we thought was that it was not quite as busy as we expected it might be due to the Covid pandemic. The Expo in Dubai was an extraordinary event. There were an enormous number of people but not quite as many as there would have been if it had not been for Covid and, therefore, some of the events we planned to put money into did not materialise. We made some savings there.

The specific reasons for the Supplementary Estimate are as follows. The largest part, €67 million, relates to contributions to international organisations. This can be broken down further as follows. We are seeking €30 million to provide immediate institutional support for the stability of the governments in Ukraine and Moldova, with €25 million for Ukraine and €5m for Moldova. Given the ongoing war in Ukraine and the extremely challenging budgetary situation faced by both governments, it is proposed to allocate this additional funding without delay to help meet their current financing needs, which are huge. This is in line with Ireland’s strong political commitment to supporting both countries as they face significant social, economic and political pressures. Due to the impact of the war, they are largely dependent on continued financial support from the EU and other like-minded partners in order to keep public services running under very difficult circumstances, especially in Ukraine. This funding is in addition to humanitarian funding of €20 million that was disbursed at the beginning of the conflict and is also separate to the funding we are providing through the European peace facility, EPF, for non-lethal assistance to the Ukrainian military. We will also continue to provide funding support for Ukraine and Moldova through 2023, given the enormous ongoing humanitarian needs resulting from Russia’s aggression. We have a very large fund to support Ukraine next year that is baked into next year's Estimates.

We are seeking €24 million in respect of Ireland’s assessed, mandatory contributions to the UN system. This year, 2022, is the first year of a new three-year budgetary cycle for UN contributions, which will run from 2022 to 2024. The amount due for 2022 - more than $50 million - is a significant increase on contributions made in 2021, which came in at just under $26 million. In other words, it is almost double. Payments, however, are not evenly spread over the three-year payment cycle and can be expected to be lower in 2023 and 2024. Before I got involved in UN contributions, I did not understand why the numbers were so different each year. The reality is we go in three-year cycles but it is not the same amount every year. It spikes in one year but then falls below the average for the other two years. It is just the way the UN accounting system works. The way in which the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform treats this is, when we know what is needed to be spent, it will provide a Supplementary Estimate, if necessary. It is in peaks and troughs, in effect, and we are in one of the peak years when we have to make a higher contribution. The numbers will be a lot less next year and the year after that. However, this is not an optional spend. These are commitments we have signed up to in respect of UN contributions, similar to EU contributions.

Some €10 million is being sought in respect of Ireland’s national contribution to the EPF, which has got a lot of coverage through the period of the war. Russia’s unprovoked aggression against Ukraine has seen the unprecedented mobilisation of the EPF, which certainly was not designed for a war like this but is the tool we are now using. Thus far, the European Union has agreed six tranches of funding, €500 million in each tranche, to support Ukraine, amounting to €3.1 billion in military assistance under the EPF. That money has not been paid out yet but it is a commitment. The agreed support currently consists of €2.82 billion for lethal equipment and approximately €280 million for non-lethal equipment.

It is the second element that we contribute to. In line with the programme for Government, Ireland is contributing exclusively to the non-lethal elements of the support package such as personal protective equipment, medical kits, food kits and fuel. Our contribution commitment to date amounts to approximately €66 million. This is based on the current gross national income, GNI, key that applies to Ireland, which is approximately 2%. The bulk of the additional funding being sought for the European Peace Facility in the Supplementary Estimate, €7.35 million, is for assistance measures to Ukraine while the remainder is for payments that have arisen in respect of other assistance measures in 2022. The European Peace Facility does not deal only with Ukraine. It also involves Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and a number of other missions I could list, each of which receives a relatively small amount. We contribute to all of them but the main chunk is linked to Ukraine. Of course, we are not being asked to pay out on our €66 million commitment this year because a lot of that expenditure has not crystalised yet. Those expenditures will be called down over the coming years, beginning late next year.

Some €3 million is being sought to cover additional voluntary contributions to the International Criminal Court, ICC, in 2022. Earlier this year, I announced this contribution. In fact, I announced it when I was in Kyiv. Some €1 million has already been disbursed to the office of the prosecutor to assist with the investigation of situations before the court including the situation in Ukraine. This €3 million does not solely relate to the ICC's work in Ukraine but also to other investigations it is undertaking. I would like to see the court make more progress on the work it is doing in the occupied Palestinian territories, including in the West Bank, where the ICC has been asked to look at a number of things. The increased funding this year was obviously triggered by the pressure on the prosecutor to put significant resources into gathering evidence of what I believe will be deemed war crimes, although that is up to a court to decide.

I am requesting an additional Supplementary Estimate of €10.5 million for the Passport Office. Ms Byrne is from the Passport Office. I consider her a saint given the pressures on the Passport Office over the last 12 months and how the office has coped with them. The passport service has issued over 1 million passports to date this year, the highest number ever on record. Staffing numbers have doubled since June 2021 and I am pleased to say that all turnaround times for online applications are now in line with pre-Covid turnaround times. In fact, we are ahead of pre-Covid turnaround times for some applications. The customer service hub is answering 100% of callers and 95% of webchat queries every day.

I am requesting this Supplementary Estimate for two reasons. The first is that an additional sum of €9 million is required to cover the advance order of 1.4 million passport books and an additional 400,000 passport chips to be used in passport books and cards in 2023 and 2024. The length of time it now takes to get these books and chips is an issue. Getting them early will help ensure there will not be a problem down the line. That is what we are trying to do. This is a prudent precautionary measure that we are taking at a time of significant disruption to global supply chains, particularly the supply chains for the chips used in passport books and cards. The waiting period for chips has increased from 12 weeks pre-Covid to 18 months currently. The second for this Supplementary Estimate is that the passport service requires an additional sum of €1.5 million to cover higher than anticipated postage costs associated with the record number of books issued this year.

I am also seeking an extra €1.5 million for emigrant support programmes in the UK, the US and other parts of the world. The last few years have demonstrated more than ever the need to continue to support and deepen our bonds with our vibrant and diverse global Irish community. The proposed increased allocation will help to mitigate adverse currency movements and inflationary pressures affecting recipients and many of the organisations that support the Irish abroad.

The next matter is that €3 million is being sought to cover additional payroll costs associated with the extension to the national Building Momentum pay agreement for the public service recently agreed with Civil Service trades unions. That is pretty straightforward.

I am requesting an additional sum of €2 million to cover higher than anticipated rental, maintenance and energy costs at official premises overseas. The Department of Foreign Affairs manages offices in more locations than any other Department with each facing different inflationary pressures at this time. The cost of operating in certain locations has also risen due to large adverse currency movements. Also included in the sum of €2 million are unforeseen costs associated with the provision of enhanced security in respect of our excellent team in Kyiv. It goes without saying that we owe a duty of care to our staff in Ukraine and other dangerous parts of the world. I believe that is self-explanatory.

An additional sum of €1 million is requested to cover higher than anticipated costs related to the posting of officers overseas in 2022. A number of factors have contributed to higher costs this year, including the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has led to more expensive flight costs and shipping costs for goods. Inflationary pressures and currency movements, including the notable strengthening of the US dollar, have also contributed to higher than anticipated rental costs for officers serving overseas.

We have agreed all of those relatively small increases with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. They are backed up with numbers as to our cost base. What is new are the decisions taken around the time of the budget to prioritise the Horn of Africa, Ukraine and Moldova and to spend money that we would otherwise have to spend next year and the year after to buy passport books in great numbers to ensure we have stocks ready to go. All of that is prudent at a time when we can afford to do it.