Cathal Crowe
Question:158. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the main policy achievements of his Department since 27 June 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31862/23]
View answerThursday, 29 June 2023
Questions (158)
Written answers
Over the past three years, my Department has achieved much progress in a number of policy areas, framed by our commitments under the Programme for Government, and the Departmental Statement of Strategy.
Peace and reconciliation on our island has been a central priority for my Department throughout this period, not least in light of the complex outworkings of Brexit. In this context, agreement of the Windsor Framework in February was a key milestone, and as a committed Member State of the European Union, Ireland is fully engaged with our EU partners as we work to make sure that the Framework is implemented fully and in good faith.
My Department is also working to restore the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement. We remain focussed on protecting and sustaining the vital relationship between Ireland, the UK and the devolved administrations, which is central to sustaining prosperity and peace across these islands.
For the period in question, my Department played a central role in advancing the Whole of Government preparations for Brexit, including publishing the Government’s final Brexit Readiness Action Plan in September 2020 and overseeing the passage of the Brexit Omnibus Act 2020 through the Oireachtas. More recently, our focus has been on managing the outworking of the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement and the agreement and implementation of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. We remain committed to securing Ireland’s vital interests, including the hard-won peace and stability on our island, against the backdrop of significant political challenges.
Deepening our EU relationships and our influence at EU level has also been a central focus of all of my Department’s activity during this period including in respect of communicating and promoting Europe to citizens. The Programme for Government made a particular commitment to marking 50 years of Irish membership of the EU and I was delighted through 2022 and 2023 to lead on a “EU50” programme of national and international engagement marking this historic anniversary. The Government also launched the “A Career for EU” Strategy in May 2021 aimed at increasing the presence of Irish people in the senior ranks of the EU institutions. Work continues on implementing this strategy including through targeting an increase in the number of young Irish people aware of and applying for EU careers.
Following our election in June 2020, Ireland’s two-year term on the UN Security Council began in January 2021 and ended in December 2022. We were active across the whole Council agenda, including on issues of great significance to Ireland’s foreign policy priorities, such as the JCPoA, the Middle East Peace Process, Libya, Myanmar, and Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Together with Norway, Ireland served as co-penholders on the Syria humanitarian file, and we successfully led on negotiations twice to extend the mandate of the lifesaving UN cross border humanitarian operation into Syria. During our tenure, we also led negotiations to successfully renew Operation Althea in Bosnia-Herzegovina in October 2022; championed human rights in Afghanistan, particularly for women and girls, and been to the fore of efforts to hold the Taliban to account; and led efforts to bring the conflict and dire humanitarian situation in Ethiopia to the attention of the Council. Ireland successfully negotiated a landmark Resolution on peacekeeping transitions, which was adopted unanimously last September; and played a leading role on the Conflict, Hunger, and Women, Peace and Security files. Ireland was also a co-penholder for a resolution carving out a broad Humanitarian exemption for UN Sanctions in December 2022.
Over the last 15 months, much of the Department’s work has been dominated by our response to Russia’s unprovoked and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine. At international level, we used our voice at the UN Security Council and all relevant multilateral fora to condemn Russia’s actions and to call on Russia to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and unconditionally withdraw their troops from within Ukraine’s internationally recognised borders
In the immediate aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion, we provided consular assistance to a number of Irish citizens wishing to leave Ukraine. Since that time, we have also provided substantial support to Ukraine, and neighbouring countries, as we worked to address the global impacts of the conflict. To date, we have provided over €185 million in humanitarian and stabilisation support to Ukraine, we have consistently supported the strongest sanctions against Russia, and have continually engaged with international partners to ensure accountability for any crimes committed in Ukraine.
This year, the Government is providing a total of over €1.23 billion for Official Development Assistance. This is the largest ever allocation, and an increase of 17% on the 2022 allocation. The overall increase of €188 million includes €111.5 million for the international development programme operated by the Department of Foreign Affairs. €75 million of this will focus on the direct and indirect impact of the war in Ukraine, and €25 million is towards meeting our international climate finance commitments. In the latest available figures from 2021, Ireland’s Climate Finance was at its highest ever level at €99.6 million.
Between May and November 2022, Ireland held the Presidency of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers. Through a critical period for the organisation, our Presidency delivered many significant achievements, notably securing agreement across the 46 Member States to convene just the fourth Summit in the Council’s 74 year history. Held in Reykjavik on 16-17 May 2023, the Summit saw leaders commit to revitalizing the Council across a wide range of human rights and democracy issues, as well as the establishment of the Register of Damages caused by Russia in Ukraine, which Ireland and 41 other countries have joined. Other notable achievements across our Presidency term included the negotiation of a Dublin Declaration on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence; the establishment of an innovative new Contact Group to formalise the Council’s cooperation with democratic opposition in Belarus; and a range of measures to support Ukraine, including fast tracking its membership of the Council’s Development Bank.
Elsewhere throughout this period, my Department has led on the formation of a number of international negotiations. Ireland has continued to prioritise international climate action, and at COP27, our delegation played an instrumental role within the EU and together with other Parties to make progress on Loss and Damage. This culminated in an agreement to establish new funding arrangements, as well as a dedicated fund, to assist developing countries in responding to Loss and Damage. In November 2022, this Department hosted a high-level international conference for the “Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas (EWIPA)”. This Irish-led Declaration has been endorsed by 83 states to date and will enhance the protection of civilians from explosive weapons in urban warfare. My Department participated in the negotiations of two landmark international treaties over this time period. In May 2023 Ireland was one of more than 80 countries which adopted the text of the Convention on Cooperation in the Investigation and Prosecution of Genocide, Crimes against Humanity, War Crimes and Other International Crimes. In June 2023 the text of the UN Agreement on Marine Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdictions was agreed, providing much needed protection the marine environment in tow thirds of the oceans. My Department also led on several other high level conferences over the period, such as the Global Diaspora Summit in April 2022, the European Congress on Global Citizenship Education (GCE) in November 2022, and this year, the Global Irish Civic Forum in April, and the Consultative Forum on International Security Policy earlier this month.
Delivery of services to Irish citizens remains central to our work. For much of the first half of the period under review, the COVID pandemic was the foremost global challenge, and my Department handled the most extensive repatriation operation in the history of the State, helping well over 8,000 citizens to return from 129 countries across five continents. In addition my Department continued to make an important contribution to the Government response to the pandemic, particularly in strengthening information flows across Government on global developments and trends, which informed critical decision making. We continue efforts to support investment in public health internationally.
Following the pandemic our Consular function has been strengthened, including by the establishment of new units for Crisis Planning and International Travel. My Department undertook substantial work in evacuating over 100 Irish citizens and their dependents from Afghanistan in the months following the fall of Kabul in August 2021, responding to the consular assistance aspects of the crisis in Ukraine, and in assisting the evacuation of over 280 Irish citizens and dependents from Sudan earlier this year. Ireland has continued to supply humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan under a humanitarian carve out which we negotiated in the UN Taliban sanctions regime. I also announced earlier this month that Ireland will provide €8.5 million in humanitarian aid for Sudan this year.
Following disruptions to the service throughout the first year of the pandemic, the Passport Service began scaling up towards normal operations in May 2021. With unprecedented demand seen in 2022, the Passport Service issued its one millionth passport of the year in early November, for the first time in the history of the State. The Passport Service is successfully meeting the current high demand for passports, and has issued over 550,000 passports to date in 2023. All turnaround times are at their target level, and over half of all online adult renewals issue within 2 working days. The Customer Service Hub is responding efficiently to an average of 15,000 queries per week. Passport Online is an award-winning online platform and is the quickest, most convenient and least expensive channel for applicants. Passport Online is now used by over 90% of applicants worldwide.
Under Global Ireland 2025, key strategies were launched throughout the period, framing our aspirations for engagement with the US and Canada, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific, Nordic and Latin American and Caribbean regions, as well as our Diaspora. Our mission network expanded to 99, with plans to open in Munich, Milan and Islamabad in the period ahead. We had over 350,000 visitors to our pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, which was launched in October 2021, and have advanced preparations for Expo 2025 in Osaka.
Finally, further to my appointment in December last year, I was pleased to launch a new Departmental Statement of Strategy earlier this month. This Statement provides an essential framework to guide the work of the Department of Foreign Affairs in the period ahead. It recognises the changed and challenging global context in which we are now operating, and makes clear that strong coordination across Government at home, and with our key allies abroad, remains key to developing sustainable and lasting responses to the many and complex challenges that Ireland is facing. In tandem, the commitment to improve capacity and capability within my Department continues. To that end, we have developed a range of policies during the period under review to support our staff, including a new Learning and Development Framework, a Gender, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion Action Plan, and a Blended Working Policy for HQ and Abroad.