Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My apologies. Members will have seen the advance briefing notes provided by my Department on the two Votes, which summarise the main activities and priorities under each strategic programme. For 2018, the overall gross estimate for the foreign affairs and trade group of Votes, which is Vote 27 and Vote 28, is €738 million compared with €715 million in 2017, which is an overall increase of €23 million or 3.2%.

The Vote 28 priorities for 2018 include the passport reform programme, Brexit, Northern Ireland, provision for urgent capital building and security works in our missions abroad, continuing investment in the Department’s global ICT network and addressing increased operating cost pressures abroad across the mission network, which is growing all the time. I announced last October the decision by Government to open six new missions as part of the doubling our global footprint by 2025 initiative. The Government’s overarching ambition under this initiative is to ensure that Ireland is well-positioned to secure our national interests, particularly our economic interests, globally. The Taoiseach’s intention is that a finalised plan will be ready for consideration by Government shortly. Our expanded network will enhance Ireland’s visibility globally, extend our influence and position us for trade and investment growth in new and existing markets. It will also benefit our citizens travelling overseas and will involve reaching out to our diaspora and exploring new platforms for engagement. It will also involve us in political debates and considerations in parts of the world, in particular the Middle East, which is the main reason we will be opening an embassy in Jordan.

The programme structure for Vote 28 corresponds with the Department’s strategy statement 2016-2019 and also mirrors the priorities set out in the foreign policy review document "The Global Island: Ireland’s Foreign Policy for a Changing World". It 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 2018 Revised Estimates volume.

As has been proposed, I will now make some very short introductory comments on programme A to open the discussion. When we complete our discussion of the programme, I will then take each of the following programmes in sequence, as the Chairman has asked me to do.

Programme A is to serve our people at home and abroad and to promote reconciliation and co-operation. Work under this programme includes the effective delivery of passport and consular services for our citizens; supporting our emigrants and deepening engagement with our diaspora; sustaining peace and enhancing reconciliation and political progress in Northern Ireland; increasing North-South and British-Irish co-operation. The amount allocated for current expenditure under programme A in 2018 is €73.4 million compared with €69.7 million in 2017, which is an increase of 7.4%. The programme is about Irish citizens at home and abroad and covers a number of key priority areas for the Department. Given the breadth of issues covered by this programme, I can only briefly touch on some of them in my short introduction.

Our consular services and consular assistance includes a group of people who many committee members are familiar with as a result of some of the cases they have raised. Providing high-quality consular assistance and other consular services to Irish citizens at home and abroad remains a key priority of the Department. The Department and our mission network responded to around 3,000 serious consular assistance cases in 2017, including 320 cases where Irish citizens died while overseas. The year also saw the Department responding to a series of terrorist incidents in which Irish citizens were caught up including in London, Barcelona and Melbourne and major adverse weather crises in the US and the Caribbean. A high priority for my Department is ensuring that the travelling Irish public is well-informed about risks and has access to accurate and relevant information and advice. My Department’s TravelWise smartphone app is helping to keep Irish citizens informed and safe while abroad and gives us an additional means of contact with citizens in the event of an emergency. I encourage all members of the committee and indeed all public representatives to do everything possible to make the public aware of the TravelWise app. If one uses it, one will see it is very pragmatic and useful. Many people do not realise the extent to which our consular services are working every day or that we assisted in 3,000 cases last year. If one thinks of 3,000 cases, one will realise how many are being assisted and supported every day. The number is significant. If one thinks of the 320 cases in which Irish citizens died abroad, many in accidents and very tragic circumstances, one gets an understanding that our consular services are involved in very difficult cases virtually every day and are working with families and individuals.

The passport service issued 781,375 passports in 2017. This represented an increase of over 6% on the previous year. We expect the number of passport applications to continue to increase throughout 2018. Applications in recent weeks are already showing increases of over 10% on last year. Last year was the highest ever. We will probably be 10% up on that this year. They are dramatic numbers for our passport services to deal with. There have been tens of thousands more applications. The increase in demand is driven by a number of factors including a general increase in the number of Irish residents travelling abroad and a growing population. There are about 54,000 more people in Ireland now than 12 months ago.

Our population is growing by at least 50,000 annually, which means over the next two decades there will be an extra million people, which is why we have a 2040 plan. It also why the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is gearing up capacity around passport delivery and also consular services. The increase in demand is driven by a number of factors. There is a growing population and a significant rise in applications from Northern Ireland and the UK, driven by concerns around Brexit. Last week’s snow has impacted on demand also and the passport service is making every effort to deal with urgent cases. The Passport Office had to close for a couple of days last week because people could not get to work. We have sanctioned overtime this week to try to make up for the loss of time, as it has put a lot of stress on the system. People have expectations of receiving their passports in a particular timeframe and we are trying to meet those expectations as best we can.

Our online passport application service was launched in March 2017 as part of the passport reform programme and offers the convenience of an online application system for adult applicants who wish to renew their passport, anywhere in the world. It is planned to extend the online application facility to further categories of applicants, including first-time applicants and children. The 2018 allocation includes a capital allocation of €5.5 million in respect of the passport reform programme, which is money well spent.

I will now turn to the emigrant support programme and diaspora issues, which Deputy Darragh O'Brien in particular has raised with me several times. Through the emigrant support programme budget of €11.595 million annually, the Government provides funding to non-profit organisations and projects to support our most vulnerable emigrants abroad, to strengthen global Irish communities, and to facilitate the development of closer and more strategic links between Ireland and the global Irish. This important budget supports the Government’s vision of a vibrant, diverse global Irish community, connected to Ireland and to each other.

I commend the work of my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Ciarán Cannon, in this important area in his role with special responsibility for the diaspora, and he will take any questions that members have on these matters. He is doing a very good job in this area.

This programme deals with matters relating to Northern Ireland and delivers funding for projects to bolster peace and reconciliation on this island. In the context of the current political challenges within Northern Ireland and the potential impact of Brexit, it will be no surprise that this area of work is a particular focus of my Department and a particular priority for me personally.

The interests of the island as a whole and protecting the gains of the peace process remain a priority for the Government in the Brexit negotiations. The Government’s priority is to ensure that the Good Friday Agreement and the overall balance of the settlement is not in any way disturbed by the UK’s exit from the EU and to maintain the open and effectively invisible Border, which I think everyone, including those in Britain, wants. Finding a way to do it, apart from using the backstop which has been agreed, will be the big challenge to these negotiations. If that is not possible, the backstop is there and we will insist on using it, but our first priority is to work with the British Government to find an option A or options A and B that can deal with the Irish Border issues comprehensively as well as the east-west trade interest that Ireland has in the context of Brexit.

In 2017, the reconciliation fund made grants to more than 100 projects, supporting organisations across the community and voluntary sector, most based in Northern Ireland. These groups are building meaningful links across communities, addressing the issues that are impacting on their lives, including sectarianism, and are working to create better understanding between people and traditions on the island of Ireland and between Ireland and Britain. As we approach the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, it is clear that this work is as important as ever. In recognition of this, the Government has protected the reconciliation fund’s budget in recent years and included a commitment in the Stormont House Agreement to maintain its annual budget at €2.7 million.

I welcome any comments or questions from committee members on programme A.