Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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167. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the status of the implementation of A Programme for a Partnership Government as it applies to his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24576/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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A Programme for a Partnership Government sets out the key Government commitments which will enable us to articulate ourselves on the world stage, contribute to peace-building initiatives across the globe, and share our culture and values. My Department has primary responsibility for twenty-nine actions, particularly in the Ireland and the Worldchapter. These commitments, alongside our Brexit response and our broad foreign policy priorities, are reflected in the Department’s latest Statement of Strategy 2017-2020 and in business planning for the Department and its Mission network.

The Department’s reports on its progress in implementing commitments are integrated into Annual and Progress Reports on the Programme for Government published by the Department of An Taoiseach. The Government recently approved its second Programme for a Partnership Government annual report which provides a comprehensive update on progress since May 2017. The report will be laid before the Oireachtas in the near future.

Since the launch of the Programme for a Partnership Government, work has been taken forward across all actions assigned to this Department, with a particular focus on a whole of Government response to Brexit, the wide range of issues relating to Northern Ireland, delivery of an innovative Passport Service to citizens, the development of holistic relationships with Asia and the Americas, progressing Ireland’s engagement with the Sustainable Development Goals, and ensuring the delivery of an effective and accountable aid programme and humanitarian response. Ireland’s commitment to a rules based international system and conflict resolution and peacebuilding also remains a bedrock of our work programme.