Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with that. We all know, from people who contact us, to check expiry dates and everything else a month or two before getting on the plane. It can happen. It is human nature. People are very anxious as well. It is their holiday, which is a big event for the family, or it may be a job. There is total understanding of where people are coming from. We just have to respond as efficiently as we can. We have the staff and capacity in place now.

There is a programme for embassies. To be fair, there has been a very significant expansion of consulates and embassies in the past ten years. That has to be acknowledged and accepted. I will have a review of the next stage with regard to where we go. I referred to those that have been announced already. Some people might have issues with Cuba. I have been to Cuba. I believe I was one of the first foreign ministers, ten years ago, to go to Cuba. The lack of progress there with regard to various rights such as civil society, freedom of speech and so forth is disappointing.

On another day, we probably need to discuss the nature, purpose, function and role of diplomacy, because I have noted recently in the Dáil that very often the opening of an embassy is seen as an endorsement of a regime. It was never meant to be that. It now becomes a sort of a litmus test, politically, in that if a country is opening an embassy, it means one endorses everything that regime, country or government is doing. That is not the function, purpose or intent in creating what are essentially diplomatic channels which, ideally, even in time of war, should be kept open in order that we can organise peace or change or try to influence change. It might be time for us to stand back, because I have had a few calls, even as Taoiseach in the past two years, from people to close certain embassies because they do not like what the country is doing or not to open others. Meanwhile, consular issues can arise. If we do not have boots and people on the ground, we are depending on some other country that has an embassy on the ground to help us get Irish citizens out of a very difficult situation or to advocate on behalf of an Irish citizen.

With regard to learning about regions of the world, I take on board what the Chairman has said with regard to Lebanon. We have had a presence in Lebanon, wearing our defence hats, for well on 40 years. We regularly meet ministers of the Lebanese government, sometimes in very sad situations, as I had to recently with regard to the killing of Private Seán Rooney. I had to meet the ministers for foreign affairs and defence there. The thought struck me that different reason is rationale. That country has challenges and so on.

I would like if there could be non-partisan, non-political reflection on that at some stage, in the cold, cool light of day. It is very hard for us to do that with regard to the various atrocities and breaches of human rights that are going on, but we need to think about the purpose of diplomacy. What is its function? I have never seen it as an endorsement of a country or regime. There are certain parts of the world where we should be in order that we are better informed and we inform ourselves as opposed to using second- and third-hand information. We can make more informed choices as a result in the formulation of foreign policy and stances. That is off my soap box, but I take the Chairman's point. One is Cuba. The other is Tehran.

I think there is approximately €1.5 million core funding for all organs of the International Criminal Court, ICC, but we gave an additional €3 million last year with regard to Ukraine. We also gave additional moneys to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in acknowledgement of the considerable backlog of cases in that court. I met recently with the new president of the court, Síofra O'Leary, whose appointment is of great social pride to Ireland. The fact we have allocated that additional funding was welcomed.

There are things we can do well. We are not a military power but we can do a considerable amount for international accountability and helping the world with regard to global instruments such as the ICC in how we hold nations to account for breaches of the rules of law, the crime of aggression, the crime of genocide, where it is committed, and so on.

We will continue to see what we can do to support bona fide international organisations that do that kind of work. Deputy Brady mentioned Perth. I will follow those up and come back to him. He also referred to parliamentary diplomacy and the Global Parliamentary Network. If he believes we can be of any further assistance in that regard, he should come back to us on that because the role of parliamentarians in the monitoring of elections, diplomatic outreach and so on is very important.