Mr. Niall Burgess:

Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. I will do that. I thank the committee for inviting me to assist the committee in its examination of the Appropriation Accounts 2019 and Chapter 8 of the Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2018 – Controls over humanitarian assistance funding. The committee has already had a summary of the main areas of departmental expenditure and receipts in 2019, and I do not propose to introduce that orally. In many respects, the year under review, 2019, seems far removed from the year that has just passed yet I believe work undertaken then has served us well since.

We published a new framework for providing consular support to Irish citizens abroad after extensive engagement and attentive listening; we expanded our mission network; and brought our global network of honorary consuls home for consultation on how we could improve our service to citizens abroad. We could not foresee that within months we would assist the largest repatriation of Irish citizens in modern times and help protect the social infrastructure supporting Irish communities made newly vulnerable by the pandemic.

We also continued to invest in our passport service, increasing access to the online service and strengthening the safeguards for citizens in the process. The passport online service is now available for 97% of applicants worldwide and the investment of recent years has allowed us to provide an essential service safely during lockdown and to accelerate the return to standard processing times as we tackle the outstanding Covid backlog.

In 2019 we entered the final phase of the process that ultimately saw Ireland take a seat on the UN Security Council and assume weighty responsibilities in January this year for issues currently affecting the lives of millions affected by political, humanitarian and climate crises.

Following extensive consultation with the Oireachtas and the public, we launched a new policy framework for our development assistance. We also supported the restoration of political institutions in Northern Ireland. We sustained engagement in Brussels and scaled up the resources allocated to mitigating the economic and political consequences of Brexit.

I am conscious that the spectrum of programmes and activities covered by Votes 27 and 28 is a wide one. I will elaborate on two aspects, namely, the development and humanitarian activities provided under Vote 27 and the services we provide to citizens under Vote 28.

The scale of the challenges faced by our aid agencies and our development and humanitarian programmes is increasing sharply and rapidly. Last year we saw an increase of over 40% in those requiring humanitarian assistance, an increase of 15% in those facing hunger and food insecurity and the shadow of famine return to Ethiopia. This is against a backdrop of a decline in global GDP last year of over 5%, impacting most severely on the weakest economies. To respond effectively and in a timely manner to the unprecedented level of need, the allocation for emergency response and humanitarian assistance is likely to exceed €180 million this year. It is a source of assurance that the OECD last year concluded that, although Ireland may be small, we are a donor who does things well, channels our development assistance to where it is needed most, exercises leadership and makes a visible difference.

I referred to the investment in technology underpinning the passport service and to the role it has played in helping us to keep pace with demand, which has risen from 647,000 passports in 2014 to 937,000 in 2019, an increase of 45% in five years. While the pandemic reduced demand, the passport service was also required to adapt its service in compliance with Government and public health guidance. When the service scaled up operations in early May, we had some 89,000 passport applications on hand. Today, approximately 55,000 of these applications have been issued and 20,000 are awaiting further action from the applicant. I am happy to say that all of the remaining 14,000 applicants will have been issued with passports by next week.

I have also referred to the unprecedented consular operation to assist with the repatriation of Irish citizens last year. Our network of outstanding honorary consuls was critical to this operation. The service continued to respond to a high level of cases not directly related to the pandemic last year, assisting over 250 families following the tragic death of a loved one abroad as well as over 500 cases requiring complex medical, welfare or legal assistance.

I should mention the complementary work of the emigrant support programme in disbursing assistance to communities made newly vulnerable by the pandemic, especially in Britain, the US, Australia and Canada. A dedicated response fund was established, aimed primarily at protecting the elderly, mitigating the impact of social isolation, responding to individual cases of exceptional hardship, providing mental health supports and bereavement counselling and moving more services online.

As I will step aside from my current role this year, I take this opportunity to make a few brief acknowledgements to those whose support for my role as Accounting Officer has been invaluable. First, I acknowledge the Comptroller and Auditor General and his office and my finance directorate, led by John Conlan, and internal audit and evaluation unit, led by Tom Hennessy, for their rigour and impartiality and the assurance this has provided to me. Second, I acknowledge our audit committee which plays a critical role in our oversight and governance, particularly its chair, Jim O’Brien, who will step down this month after five years of public service in this role. Third, I acknowledge the members of this committee, not least for the detailed work they have undertaken over recent years in examining directly our programmes in complex environments in both Africa and Asia. I am conscious that it has been three years since this committee had the opportunity to visit a partner country and see the programme in operation. As the pandemic recedes and we grapple with its legacy, I hope this aspect of its work can be resumed.

I am joined this morning by deputy secretary for global affairs, Brendan Rogers; director general of corporate and passport services, Barbara Jones; chief financial officer, John Conlan; and director general for development co-operation, Ruairí de Búrca. We look forward to working with the committee in further examining our two Votes and addressing any questions arising from the Comptroller and Auditor General's special report on humanitarian assistance.