Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to deal first with the Department of Defence Vote, before moving on to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

For 2023, the total allocation for the defence sector is €1.174 billion, comprising €893 million for Vote 36 - Defence, and €281 million for Vote 35 - Army Pensions, which is an overall increase of €67 million on 2022, doubling the increase in the Defence Vote from last year. What is not yet accounted for in the Defence Estimate is the provision for the new pay deal, should it be approved later this year. This would add an approximate further €45 million to that figure, with the combination of pensions and pay. This means that in all likelihood the Defence Vote next year will be about €114 million more than this year.

This allocation reflects the commitment of the Government to providing a financial platform for the defence sector to initiate the required transformation, as recommended by the Commission on the Defence Forces. It also assists in bringing our defence capabilities closer to European norms and ensures the Defence Forces maintain their ongoing capacity to deliver on all roles assigned by the Government, both at home and overseas.

The additional €35 million in capital funding is particularly welcome. The Commission on the Defence Forces reinforced the urgent requirement for significant capital investment on defensive equipment programmes and on upgrading and modernising the Defence Forces built infrastructure. This brings the total capital allocation to €176 million, a 25% increase on 2022, the single biggest annual capital investment ever provided to defence.

I place huge importance on capability development, and in that context the additional capital funding will provide added impetus to the major capital investment programmes currently under way in the defence sector. In particular, this allocation allows my Department to progress its consideration of the development of the primary radar capability and the procurement of additional force protection equipment.

A significant number of building projects will also advance under the Defence Forces built infrastructure programme, which will modernise and upgrade defence built infrastructure over the coming years, and include the provision of a new cadet school in the Defence Forces training camp at the Curragh, and the development of the university students administrative complement, USAC, student facility in Galway, along with facilities improvements and accommodation upgrades in multiple military locations across the country.

The defence group pay and pensions budget has increased to €823 million and will be used to meet the ongoing pay and allowance costs of the Defence Forces, civilian employees and departmental civil servants, along with the pensions costs for more than 13,000 ex-members of the Defence Forces and their dependants, including the costs associated with the existing Building Momentum pay deal. The allocation includes funding to facilitate further recruitment to the Permanent Defence Force, in line with the recommendations of the commission.

Funding is provided to facilitate implementation of a number of key recommendations of the commission, such as specific enhancements to pay and allowances and the recruitment of the head of transformation and strategic HR roles in the Defence Forces, as outlined in the high-level action plan. These appointments will place the focus of transformation on the organisation’s greatest asset, which is its people.

The increased allocation of €175 million in non-pay current expenditure will assist the Defence Forces in meeting escalating standing and operational costs anticipated in 2023. It also includes funding for Civil Defence and the Irish Red Cross Society.

The allocation for Vote 35 - Army Pensions - has increased by €10 million to €281 million. The funding allocated in budget 2023 will enable the Defence Forces to deliver effectively on all its key domestic and international responsibilities, to enhance our national and international security capability, and to facilitate progression on the structural and cultural transformation as recommended by the Commission on the Defence Forces.

Finally, I want to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks for all the work undertaken by the Permanent Defence Force, Civil Defence, the Reserve and my Department during 2022. We are very proud of their dedicated efforts as we look forward with confidence to 2023. In time, 2022 will be seen as a benchmark year where significant change and modernisation was agreed and planned for. We certainly intend on funding that change now and into the future.

I shall now turn to foreign affairs. Budget 2023 is a strong statement of Ireland's enduring commitment to global solidarity. Through our international development programme we are seeking to address the consequences of a brutal and illegal war on our Continent, the relentless impact of climate change, and a growing and devastating hunger crisis, especially in the Horn of Africa.

Next year the budget for international development will be the largest ever. Ireland will provide more than €1.2 billion in official development assistance, which is an increase of 17% on this year. This includes an increase of €100 million to the Irish Aid programme in the Department of Foreign Affairs, €75 million to be channelled towards responding to the direct and indirect impacts of the war in Ukraine, including food security, and €25 million towards meeting the international climate finance commitments that we have made.

Given the urgency of the needs and the growing appeals for life-saving assistance, I am proud we are responding already with an additional €30 million this year in humanitarian assistance for the food security and nutrition crisis across the Horn of Africa. We know famine is imminent in the region, and Ireland will now be in a position to build urgently on the response that we have put in place to date.

I will also be seeking Government approval in the coming weeks for an additional €30 million this year for institutional support and stabilisation in Ukraine and Moldova. Of course, this is separate to the very significant funding also being provided to other Departments this year and next to look after all of those who have sought refuge in Ireland from the war in Ukraine.

The Government is committed to significant and continuing increases to Ireland's official development assistance programme towards meeting the 0.7% of GNI target by 2030. When I was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs in 2017 the budget for our international development programme was €743 million. For next year it will be 64% higher than that. This progress ensures Ireland can maintain its leadership role on hunger and nutrition, can respond to the unprecedented levels of humanitarian need, and meet our obligations to some of the most vulnerable people in the world who are suffering most from the impact of climate change while contributing least to its cause in the first place.

In addition to the significant increase in official development assistance next year, the Department of Foreign Affairs will work with additional funding of €16 million secured in budget 2023 to improve services for our citizens and broaden our reach across the world. I am committed to increasing resources in the passport service to ensure that we can meet citizens' demands, particularly given the expected continuing high levels of applications next year.

This involves putting in place adequate staffing while also investing in new technologies as part of the passport reform programme.

We will also continue to deepen and strengthen our global presence in established markets and in new markets overseas to drive job creation and exports as well as inward investment, tourism and international education. These new resources will allow us to operate with new Irish consulates that have just opened and are due to open shortly in Lyon, Miami and Toronto as well as a new embassy in Tehran that we expect to open next year, and to commence planning for the opening of three further missions in Islamabad, Milan and Munich.

Above and beyond everything I have mentioned, budget 2023 will enable the Department of Foreign Affairs working through our team at headquarters and more than 100 overseas offices to continue essential work to develop North-South and east-west relations post Brexit. We will ensure the Department can continue to provide quality consular services to our citizens travelling and living overseas as well as other supports to particularly vulnerable Irish communities. It will ensure Ireland's values and interests are advanced through our engagement at the UN and in other multilateral forums as we conclude our term of the UN Security Council at the end of this year. It will also allow us to strengthen our engagement on EU matters as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of our accession to the then European communities, which is now, of course, the EU.

Across my two Departments, we have seen very significant increases. From a defence perspective, when the likely increases that come with a new pay deal are accounted for, I think it is the highest ever increase in defence in Ireland. It is certainly the highest ever percentage increase in terms of capital. It makes a very clear statement to back up the commitments we have made following the recommendations from the Commission on the Defence Forces that this Government will implement those recommendations in full and we will fund the change that is needed to grow and expand the Defence Forces significantly over the next few years, where we need to add thousands of extra people to our Permanent Defence Force and, indeed, the Reserve.

On foreign affairs, I never thought I would be Minister for Foreign Affairs at a time of war in Europe but I am and it is my job to make sure that, as a wealthy country with an economy that is doing extraordinarily well despite all of the headwinds there are internationally, we share some of that wealth. That is what we are doing in terms of expanding, growing and increasing the funding to our development aid programme. People should think about this for a second. Back in 2000, we spent about €250 million on development aid. We are now spending more than €1.2 billion and we need to keep increasing that figure significantly year after year as the country can afford to share at least some of our wealth with people who literally have nothing and, in some cases, children who are starving. That is where we are focusing some of the increased resources now, on the Horn of Africa, over the next few months.

I thank the House and I hope Members will support the priorities we have set out for both the Department of Defence and the Department of Foreign Affairs.

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