Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If it is agreeable, I will share time with Deputy Geoghegan - half and half. May I make a personal embarrassing comment to say how brilliant it is to share time with Deputy Geoghegan? We have been personal friends for more than 20 years. To be sitting on the same Government bench as him is really good and really cool. What is seldom is wonderful but as the Ceann Comhairle knows, we are all friends here, particularly when we disagree. That is the attitude but we will split time - eight and seven minutes. He may be a friend but he is not getting a minute more than me.

I would like to touch on three points. The first is a more general point and then two points in respect of my new brief in the Department of Foreign Affairs. In relation to the programme for Government, it is my clear belief that this is an ambitious programme for Government brought together by three entities - two political parties and a grouping of TDs - that can deliver for Ireland. We do so with our eyes wide open to the clear challenges that face our society and economy at the moment. I take on board the comments by other Deputies including Deputy Gogarty and the very clear requests and demands of the Government that are not just from him as an elected representative but of the people he represents in Dublin Mid-West, similar to Deputy Paul Lawless in Mayo and Deputy Martin Kenny in Sligo-Leitrim, and Donegal. He lost a bit of Roscommon but he has all the rest.

The challenges are stark, which we know. We do not hide from the starkness when it comes to housing, disability services, assessment in our special schools or providing a transport system, as the Ceann Comhairle well knows, that is fit for purpose and for the evolving challenges that face our country, be they economic, societal or the clear challenges of the climate emergency. We face into those challenges in a strong position. We are one of the few European Union states that find themselves at this time with a continually growing economy, falling interest rates, effective full employment, a massive surplus and the ability to put money away in funds for more difficult times but also to invest more carefully in the infrastructure a growing state needs. The Ireland of today is very different to the Ireland of my youth. This is an Ireland people want to come to and they are extremely welcome here. They are welcome to play a full part not just in our economic growth or in terms of meeting the needs of our society but in their own personal development. They can be people fleeing war and persecution or coming here for many other reasons. That was not the Ireland in which many of us grew up. For may of us, the Ireland we grew up in was one you had to leave. Two weeks after I handed in my dissertation in university, I got on a plane to Brussels and did not know if I was ever going to come back simply because the financial crash was looming. That was the situation in which so many people found themselves. We have a strong basis on which not only to address clear domestic challenges, from which no one is hiding, as I said, but equally to allow us to continue to play a role in the wider world.

It is a huge honour to be reappointed as a Minister of State but it is a double honour to be appointed a Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs with responsibility for international development and our diaspora. I look forward to working closely with our Tánaiste and the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, in making sure the services Irish people abroad, travelling abroad and, crucially, the reputation of this country abroad, are maintained to the highest possible level. We see this laced throughout the programme for Government, specifically in references from page 132 on in relation to Ireland's place in the world. We are an outward-looking country. We are a small island but we are a small island at the heart of Europe and the centre of the world. That is not just a catchphrase; it simply has to be reflected in our actions and in the delivery of this programme for Government.

A few of measures are very pertinent. Ireland to date has contributed more than €38 million to the work of UNRWA in Gaza and the Palestinian territories. This is important and vital. When other administrations were looking to cut funding or remove it, Ireland increased the level of funding and support we have given to the poor people of Palestine who have had a reign of terror fall on them for the last number of months. We will continue our support in Ukraine to build peace, allowing the people of Ukraine to continue to live in their country despite the daily onslaught of the brutal Russian war regime.

Ireland's contribution in overseas development aid is at one of its highest levels, at over €800 million a year in contributions. We are set to move ever closer to achieving 0.7%. Those of us who have been around will remember when we hit 0.7% before but that was when our economy was in such dire straits and the measurement of GNI was much different. We will see Ireland continue to contribute to the fund for loss and damage, a vital fund to support the global south, particularly as the ravages of climate change force them to change. Ireland will keep attention on the plight of women and girls in Afghanistan. Ireland is committed to an increased focus on Sudan. We all know a lot is happening in this world of ours at the moment. There is a lot of fear out there, a lot of danger and a lot of changing opinions in administrations across the world but now is not the time for Ireland to turn its back on the world. Now is the time for Ireland to increase.

I wish to speak about the second part of my brief before handing over to Deputy Geoghegan, which is the work of our diaspora. This element was added to this portfolio by Enda Kenny as Taoiseach when he gave the first Minister of State position with responsibility for the diaspora to Jimmy Deenihan. It is clear that our diaspora strategy needs to be revamped. We have committed in the programme for Government to developing a new diaspora strategy. That work has already commenced. The profile of the diaspora is changing. The profile of the 20-year-old Irish person who had to hop on a plane to America never to come back again has changed. Our diaspora is evolving; people are moving for many reasons. We know the public criticism that some people are going to some places and some people are making a choice. We look at the profile of the Irish-American diaspora in particular and how we have to evolve our strategy to make sure the focus is on so much more than it was before. The previous strategy has worked for us but we now need to maximise the potential of our diaspora in the United States to make sure that complements the work of Enterprise Ireland and the IDA and that we continue to increase our diplomatic presence and pursue our political ambitions when it comes to global issues and the plight of the undocumented.

We also look at other jurisdictions, for example, at the Irish in Australia, who may be diaspora for six months, a year, two years or longer. Why are they going? As Deputy Gogarty alluded to, we must make sure we have a situation whereby they can come back. One of the last acts I was able to do as a Minister of State at the Department of Finance was to launch a new insurance company specifically targeting returning drivers who had not been able to get quotes for car insurance. We will make sure that there is recognition of driver licences and that records and insurance, including health insurance, are checked. I am excited for the role I have taken on. I am excited and undaunted by the challenges that lie ahead of the new Government. I have absolute faith that, under the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, we will deliver for the Irish people because that is our responsibility.

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