Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 14 January 2015
727. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the programmes or schemes his Department currently funds to maintain or increase the number of Irish citizens who gain work experience or full-time employment in the United Nations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1150/15]
View answerTogether with the Department of the Taoiseach, my Department is working with the Public Appointments Service to strengthen our promotion of career opportunities in international organisations, including in the United Nations.
Ireland has been a long standing partner of the United Nations Volunteers Programme (UNV), the UN organisation that promotes volunteerism as a means of achieving peace and development. Ireland’s support to UNV in recent years has focused on sponsoring the deployment of UNV Youth volunteers (recent graduates) and UNV Specialists (experienced professionals) to assignments with UN agencies primarily in Irish Aid’s partner countries and priority sectors.
Youth volunteer placements are usually for 12 months, and provide the volunteers with the opportunity to develop and apply their skills, knowledge and capacities. In 2014 Irish Aid’s support to the UNV Programme directly led to the deployment of 14 UN Youth Volunteers with UN Agencies. This year Irish Aid will support the placement of 10 Youth Volunteers. The UN Specialist Volunteers placements are for a period of 24 months, mainly in Irish Aid programme countries. In 2014, two Specialist Volunteers were directly funded by Irish Aid and placed with UN Agencies.
UNV also maintains a database of candidates interested in volunteering which it uses to fill volunteer positions with UN agencies in developing countries. Through Ireland’s continued support to the UNV programme Irish citizens are chosen by UNV from their database to fill specialist volunteer assignments. Irish Aid also directly supports UNV to deploy Specialists to UN offices in developing countries.
In relation to the EU, my Department contributes to the funding of the Junior Professionals in Delegations (JPD) programme run by the European External Action Service and the European Commission, under which four Irish citizens last year secured extended paid traineeships in EU delegations.
The Department is also an active stakeholder in the EU Jobs campaign, coordinated by the Department of the Taoiseach, which provides a range of services to advise Irish citizens about current recruitment opportunities in the EU institutions and which supports them through the application process.
