Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 21: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if foreign policy commitments have featured in the renegotiation of the programme for Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31772/09]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

My Department has been engaged in monitoring and assessing the foreign policy commitments contained in the current programme for Government which runs from 2007 until 2012. Significant resources within the Department have been directed towards achieving these commitments over the past two years.

A significant number of foreign policy commitments have been delivered, or are close to being delivered, to date. These include: the Cluster Munitions Convention, the enhancement of Ireland's role in UN reform, the development of our rapid response humanitarian capacity and the improvement in the information available to the public about the European Union.

In addition, a number of commitments do not lend themselves to easy empirical measurement but are areas where work is ongoing. These include work on foreign policy issues such as disarmament, the Middle-East and Burma, bodies of ongoing policy work which are a central part of the Department's core business.

Naturally, the work of the Department has evolved since the programme for Government was agreed and work has been undertaken in new areas. Such new or expanded areas of activity which I would expect to be reflected in a revised programme for Government would include:

o Enhanced focus on the Department's support role in promoting Ireland's economic interests abroad,

o The implementation of initiatives, with a foreign policy element, within the 'Smart Economy' framework,

o The implementation of the Strategic Review of US-Ireland relations,

o The implementation of the findings of the Farmleigh Global Economic Forum (18-20 September),

o Continued monitoring of, and contribution to, the devolution of Policing and Justice powers in Northern Ireland.