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

We waited nearly a year for the Global Ireland document to be published but last week's document was more than a bit of a let-down. Fundamentally, there is no implementation plan and there are no costings in the plan.

I and my party have been calling for a significant expansion in our diplomatic, commercial and cultural footprint since well before the Brexit referendum. We have argued strongly that we do not have the personnel available to develop the scale and depth of relations which we need, particularly in the aftermath of Brexit. We do not have an issue with supporting the expansion as announced.

There are two major problems with the document launched last week. First, it is a stitching together of individual proposals from different Departments and agencies. There is no real clarity as to exactly what our strategy is for operating where we have representation and there is too much focus on headline projects which are welcome but secondary to how we use our presence in general. Second, and incredibly, there is no implementation plan setting annual targets and committing funding. I know the Taoiseach said he will budget for this but I find it strange that a year on we do not have an implementation plan or any costings. In the past two months the Taoiseach and his party have extensively briefed newspapers about a supposedly secret committee that is costing Opposition proposals.

The Taoiseach said he would have zero tolerance for uncosted promises. Of course, this misses the fact that many of the proposals the Taoiseach was criticising have also been made by Fine Gael Ministers and the Taoiseach himself. It is okay for the Taoiseach to make these promises uncosted but not for others to do so.

Why is there no specific year-by-year implementation plan or detailed costings for this plan? Without these there is no basis for assessing the credibility of the plans or the level of real commitment being made for the future by different Departments. Will the Taoiseach address this immediately and publish the costings behind the plan?

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