Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

226. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the reason his Department cancelled the USA birthright programme; the amount the programme was expected to cost annually; the number of persons that were expected to be part of the programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18624/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The ‘Global Irish Summer Camp’ Progamme was trialled in 2016 and allowed for 20 Irish-American students, who would ordinarily have never got the chance to visit Ireland, to travel here for a short immersive programme that incorporated educational and heritage elements. The cost of the Programme in 2016 was €100,000.

I am aware of suggestions that this programme has been ‘cancelled’. This is not the case. The programme was run as a trial in 2016 and this was made clear at the time. It was always our intention to review the pilot this year, to evaluate it and other pilot initiatives and to draw guidance from this for our future engagement with our diaspora. If it is to be dynamic and meaningful, our diaspora programme has to be willing to test and evaluate new initiatives and new forms of engagement. But because our funding and resources are finite, we also have a responsibility to evaluate them carefully to ensure that they are both effective in achieving the desired outcomes and efficient in their use of resources. That process is now underway – not behind closed doors but in close consultation with the communities abroad whose interests we serve.

Central to this review process and to the Government’s broader engagement with the diaspora is the upcoming Second Global Irish Civic Forum, which will bring together Irish community leaders and members from around the world. Some 200 individuals working with or on behalf of Irish communities worldwide are scheduled to attend at Dublin Castle on 4-5 May. The Civic Forum will provide a very valuable opportunity for face to face engagement for organisations abroad facing similar challenges, and for dialogue between these groups and the Government.

My Department has developed a programme for the Civic Forum that will be future-focused so that our diaspora can contribute to the evolution of our vision for the future direction of engagement with the Irish abroad. This will help inform and shape the kinds of projects and initiatives that Government can best allocate funding towards to ensure maximum impact in meeting our key objectives of supporting and engaging our diaspora. These discussions will include the extremely important question of how best to engage with the next generation, and future generations, of our communities abroad. Of course, in relation to the Global Irish Summer Camp, it may be the case that the result of these discussions and the wider review underway could be that a different model or models would be identified as having greater potential for engaging more effectively, or with larger numbers of young people.

As Minister for the Diaspora I remain absolutely committed to promoting and facilitating meaningful, inclusive engagement with all generations of the global Irish diaspora. While the nature of specific projects and initiatives that the Government funds may evolve over time, and will always require review to ensure that we achieve maximum impact and value for the Irish taxpayer, our steadfast commitment endures to foster and facilitate a vibrant, diverse global Irish community, connected to Ireland and to each other.