Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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108. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he has conducted a capacity review of his Department’s ability to deliver services that they are responsible for in the past ten years to date; the name of State bodies and agencies under his Department’s aegis; if he published those reviews; the number of recommendations implemented arising from the reviews and same for State bodies and agencies under his aegis; if the capacity review was outsourced; and if so, to whom and at what cost. [40838/24]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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In recent years, my Department has consistently demonstrated the capacity to respond and adapt to a rapidly changing international environment while continuing to serve the interests of Irish citizens at home and abroad. Underpinning this has been a commitment in our Statement of Strategy to strengthening our effectiveness by reviewing our systems and structures on an ongoing basis, building our capability to serve and to deliver on our goals.

The Department achieves this in a number of ways. It has strong strategic management, budgetary oversight, business planning, risk management, and policy development processes, as set out in its Corporate Governance Framework, which facilitate the on-going development of the Department’s capabilities and deployment of it resources to ensure Ireland derives the maximum benefit from all areas of its external engagement.

The Department has a robust work force planning process that ensures we develop the people and the capabilities to deliver for Irish citizens across 102 diplomatic missions worldwide; it has strong project management governance structures to ensure the efficient delivery of projects using best practice project management methodologies; and it is embedding a culture of innovation and transformation to increase the effectiveness of our policies and processes.

In addition, the Department continuously assesses and seeks to identify ways to improve its performance. It does this through the Revised Estimates and Public Sector Performance reporting processes, led by Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (DPENDR), as well as internally through periodic reviews of its diplomatic mission network, an independent evaluation and audit function, and the role of the Department’s independent Audit Committee.

My Department also engages external expertise when it is clear those skills could add value to the wide range of skills already available in the Department and in particular, where independent appraisal and evaluation of policies and projects may be useful. In this context, a management review of our development cooperation programme was conducted last year and we are reviewing the implementation of its recommendations. The programme already has a significant performance and evaluation framework including regular mission strategy review and oversight by the Department.

It is this commitment to excellence in public service, and to continuously identifying ways to increase our impact, that has enabled my Department to expand Ireland’s diplomatic footprint, with a further three new diplomatic missions opened in 2024; to deliver close to one million passports annually; to provide world class consular assistance; a world class development cooperation programme and more generally to continue to advance the interests and the values of Irish citizens, at home and abroad.