Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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117. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the budget and number of staff working in his Department in each of the years 2014 to 2018 and to date in 2019, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51567/19]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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In recent years my Department has recruited a significant number of additional staff. As well as recruitment to fill vacancies that arose during the embargo, staff have been allocated to support Brexit-related negotiations and preparations following the decision by the UK in 2016 to leave the EU. Further investment since then relates primarily to demands on the passport service and the expansion of Ireland’s diplomatic and consular mission network as part of the Global Ireland 2025 initiative, including operational and policy reinforcement in headquarters to support that objective.

In the past year new Embassies have opened in Wellington, Bogotá, Amman, Monrovia and Santiago de Chile, and new Consulates General in Vancouver, Mumbai, Cardiff, Frankfurt and Los Angeles. This brings to ninety the number of diplomatic Missions in the network. Next year new Embassy openings are planned for Kyiv in Ukraine, Manila in the Philippines and Rabat in Morocco.

My Department has strengthened capacity in the Passport Service by recruiting additional permanent and temporary staff over the past twelve months to respond to a general increase in applications as well as from Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The total full-time equivalent number of staff in my Department for the end of each year from 2014 to 2018 and the end of October 2019 (inclusive of locally recruited staff and Temporary Clerical Officers for the Passport Service) are detailed in the table below, together with the Department’s budget for the same period.

The Department’s overall expenditure for each of the years 2014 to 2018, and the budget figures for 2019 are set out below.