Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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406. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of Certificates of Irish Heritage that have been issued per year by his Department; the costs of this scheme per year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37749/14]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Since the Certificate of Irish Heritage was introduced in September 2011, 2,863 Certificates have been issued – 149 in 2011, 1,317 in 2012, 1,172 in 2013 and 225 to date in 2014. This includes 278 promotional Certificates presented to various individuals since 2011.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has spent €3,461 to date on the Certificate of Irish Heritage, broken down as €703 in 2010, €1,693 in 2011, €767 in 2012 and €298 in 2013.

These costs are mainly on technical issues relating to the websites which the Department owns (registering domains and security validation procedures) as well as travel costs to meetings with Fexco in Killorglin and some photographs at the launch in New York.

There has been no expenditure to date in 2014.

With the vast majority of the global diaspora not eligible for Irish citizenship, the Certificate of Irish Heritage was introduced to recognise descendents of previous generations of Irish citizens in an official way and to give greater practical expression to the sense of Irish identity felt by many around the world. It is very clear from the positive reaction of those who have received a Certificate how much their heritage means to them.

My Department will continue to work with Fexco, who operate the programme on our behalf, to promote the Certificate of Irish Heritage around the world.