Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I am pleased to be here. I join with the Chairman in offering my condolences to the family of former ambassador and senior official, Mr. Lorcan Fullam, who came from a very well known, highly respected and well regarded family in Portarlington in my constituency. With the Chairman's consent, I would be pleased to convey the condolences of the committee to his family when I meet them later today.

In my remarks today I will focus on Vote 28 - Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy McHugh, will later address the committee on Vote 27 - International Co-operation. I may also ask the Minister of State, Deputy McHugh, to take any questions relating to diaspora issues, which is part of his portfolio.

Vote 28 funds the operation of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and its network of missions, excluding African missions and Vietnam, which fall under Vote 27. Ireland’s contributions to international organisations such as the UN budget, UN peacekeeping operations, OECD, OSCE, Council of Europe and so on, and a number of programmes such as the emigrant support programme and peace and reconciliation fund, and other programmes in areas such as trade promotion, culture and education. Members will have seen the advance briefing note provided by my Department which summarises the main activities and priorities under each strategic programme.

For 2017 the committee will be aware that the overall gross estimate for the Foreign Affairs and Trade group of Votes, Votes 27 and 28, is €715 million, compared to €702 million in 2015, an overall increase of €13 million or 1.85%. The increase is in Vote 28, earmarked, in particular, for the passport reform programme, for urgent capital building and security works in our missions abroad, to continue the required investment in modernising the Department's ICT infrastructure and global ICT network and in making some provision for increased operating cost pressures abroad across the diplomatic mission network of some 80 missions across the globe.

The programme structure for Vote 28 has changed slightly from last year to correspond with the Department's new strategy statement for the period 2016 to 2019. The programme structure mirrors the priorities set out in the foreign policy review document, The Global Island: Ireland’s Foreign Policy for a Changing World, which sets out the Department's work in five priority areas: supporting our people; engaging actively in the European Union; promoting our values; advancing our prosperity; and strengthening our influence. These correspond directly with expenditure programmes A to E in the 2017 Revised Estimates Volume. The main change compared with last year is the reordering of programmes B, C and D which were previously programmes D, B and C, respectively. There have also been some transfers of activities between programmes, including the setting up of a new promoting Ireland programme which is now under programme D3 and which explains some of the variations members see in expenditure on individual programmes compared to 2016.

I will proceed to make some very short introductory comments on programme A. The amount allocated for this programme in 2017 is €79 million compared to €68 million in 2016. The bulk of the additional funds secured in 2017 which I mentioned will be spent under this programme which is about our people - Irish citizens at home and abroad - and covers a number of key priority areas for the Department. Given the breadth of issues covered by the programme, I can only touch briefly on some of them in my short introduction. I am sure the Chairman will moderate discussions on issues members believe are important to them.

Providing high quality consular assistance and other consular services for Irish citizens at home and abroad is a key objective of the Department. As members will recall, extensive arrangements were put in place for the tens of thousands of wonderful Irish, including Northern Irish, fans in France for the European championships, as well as those attending the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Brazil. We responded to major terrorist incidents and launched a new smartphone travel app, Travelwise, which helps to keep Irish citizens informed and safe while abroad. I encourage members to inform their constituents of this app as it is an important source of information for citizens travelling abroad.

As regards consular priorities in 2017, a new consular strategy is being developed, while a new customer service action plan and consular customer service charter have been adopted. We expect the trend in recent years of a steady increase in Irish people travelling abroad to continue in 2017 and will continue to plan and prepare for Irish citizens attending major international sports and other events in 2017 in focusing on the preventive piece in our work.

The passport reform programme is important to members in the context of their constituency work. In 2016 the Department issued 733,000 passports, representing an increase of more than 9% on the figure for 2016. Applications so far in 2017 are already over 20% ahead of the number in the corresponding period last year. The increase in demand is driven by various factors: a general increase in the number of Irish citizens travelling abroad; a growing population; and a significant rise in application numbers from Northern Ireland and Great Britain. As members may know, just over a year ago I launched a significant investment in the passport service to modernise the issue of passports, improve security and enhance the service provided for citizens. The passport reform programme runs from 2016 to 2018 and involves a combined capital and current budget of €18.6 million. Nearly €8 million has been allocated for the programme in 2017. I acknowledge the professionalism and sense of customer service of Austin Gormley and his team at the Passport Office. One of the most significant innovations will be the introduction in the coming months of an online passport renewal option for adults which will reduce the administrative burden for citizens and improve the overall efficiency of the service. I expect to make a further announcement on this innovation in the next few weeks.

The next heading is the emigrant support programme and diaspora issues which are being handled by Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Joe McHugh. In relation to Irish communities and individuals abroad, our active work continues to support our most vulnerable emigrants and implement the wider objectives of the Government’s diaspora policy document. Our vision continues to be having a vibrant, diverse global Irish community, connected to Ireland and to each other. I am pleased that the budget allocation to support emigrant communities and wider diaspora engagement remains at €11.595 million for the emigrant support programme and a further €400,000 for diaspora affairs, responsibility for which has been transferred to my Department from the Department of the Taoiseach. I commend the work of my colleague, Deputy Joe McHugh, in this important area in his role as Minister of State with responsibility for the diaspora. He will take questions members have on these matters.

The Northern Ireland programme deals with matters relating to Northern Ireland and delivers funding for projects to bolster peace and reconciliation on the island. The interests of the island as a whole and protecting the gains of the peace process will remain a priority for the Government in the upcoming Brexit negotiations. The Government's priority is to ensure the Good Friday Agreement and the overall balance of the settlement will not in any way be disturbed by the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union and to maintain the open and, effectively, invisible border.

The next topic is the reconciliation fund and the related issue of commemorations. Although significant progress has occurred in Northern Ireland, there is still important reconciliation work to be done. The reconciliation fund of €2.7 million is an important expression of our support for this work. Recognising the contribution commemorations can make and drawing on successes in this regard last year, we will support in 2017 the commemoration of Irish involvement in the battle of Messines.

I would welcome the comments of the Chairman and members on programme A.