Written Answers Nos. 441-460
441. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if a passport renewal for a minor (details supplied) will be dispatched in time for the family’s travel plans on 29 June 2022; the reason the initial consent form, witnessed by an accountant was not acceptable to the Passport Office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33946/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraWith regard to the specific application about which the Deputy has enquired, the Passport Service requested a new consent form as the Verification of Identity section on the original consent form was not completed by the witness.
442. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the total number of persons who are employed by his Department; the number who are currently working remotely; and the estimated number of persons in his Department who ordinarily worked from home prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. [33975/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs of 20 June 2022, the Department currently employs 2,460 staff which comprises officers recruited and assigned at headquarters, posted officers, and local recruited staff in overseas missions.
A formal blended working policy has been agreed by the Management Board recently and aligns with the Blended Working Policy Framework for Civil Service organisations. This policy will launch once the application process that is being developed by the NSSO is in place.
Of the 1,567 staff who work at HQ, a detailed exercise is being carried out by management in line with the Department’s blended working policy to identify roles suitable for blended working. Those staff whose roles are deemed suitable for blended working arrangements will be permitted to work up to a maximum of 50% of their regular attendance pattern remotely over a 4 week period.
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, 11 staff were formally availing of the Department’s e-working policy which permitted remote working up to 2 days per week.
443. Deputy Marian Harkin asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will meet with delegates from Sligo County Council in relation to the possibility of establishing a passport office in Sligo; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34001/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Passport Service is a unified service composed of three constituent offices located in Lower Mount Street and Balbriggan in Dublin and South Mall in Cork, respectively. Passport applications from all citizens - whether from anywhere in Ireland or abroad - are distributed for processing across the three Passport Offices on the basis of the type of application rather than the place of residence of the applicant.
Over 90% of all passport applications, including first time applications, are now being made through Passport Online which is available to 97% of all applicants across the world. The Passport Service is committed to continuing to offer a range of application channels, including an offline service for citizens who are not eligible or do not wish to use the Passport Online service.
Passport Online is the priority channel for applications as there are many efficiencies built into the system for both the applicant and the Passport Service. The Passport Online service offers Irish citizens the ability to apply online for their passport 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is a user-friendly, efficient service that consistently offers processing times up to 4 times faster than paper-based passport renewal applications.
Having a centralised passport system allows us to maintain the integrity of this vitally important document. It ensures that applications are processed by highly skilled staff who are expertly trained. The Irish passport ranks fifth in the world in terms of its security. It is critical that this high standard is maintained.
Passport Service figures show a very small number of applicants, less than 1%, use the in-person Urgent Appointment Service available at the Passport Offices in Dublin and Cork for those renewing their passport. This is mainly due to the efficiencies of the online system through which over 40% of adults using the service to renew their passport received it within 2 days.
Given the high percentage of applicants using Passport Online, I am confident that the range of service options available meets the current needs of passport applicants. Furthermore, recent service improvements allow the Passport Service to provide this essential citizen service in an efficient and effective manner. Given that that plans for additional passport offices are not under current consideration, a meeting would not be beneficial at this point. The Passport Service will, however, continue to consider ways in which to enhance customer experience for citizens.
452. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the level of funding that Irish Aid has provided to the 10th Africa Conference on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights being held in Sierra Leone from 27 June to 1 July 2022; if funding has been provided in previous years to the Africa Conference; if so, the amounts for each year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34182/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe 10th Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights will take place in Freetown, Sierra Leone from 27 June-1 July 2022. It is convened by the African Federation for Sexual Health and Rights and hosted by Sierra Leonean organisation Purposeful, in partnership with a number of development partners and civil society organisations, and in collaboration with the Government of Sierra Leone. The theme for this year’s Conference is, “Accelerating the Elimination of Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Africa”. It will bring together high-level delegates from across the African continent with civil society actors and activists who are working to end Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) against women and girls.
Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls are at the heart of Ireland’s Mission Strategy in Sierra Leone and cut across the Embassy’s four key areas of focus - Nutrition and Food Security, Gender, Education, and Governance and Human Rights. The theme of this Conference aligns well with the Embassy’s work to strengthen prevention of sexual and gender-based violence and access to services for survivors, particularly adolescent girls. The Conference also provides an important opportunity to advance the Government of Sierra Leone’s commitment to reducing SGBV.
As part of the Irish Aid grant to Purposeful for 2022-2023, €50,000 has been earmarked to allow Purposeful to support and take forward follow-up work arising from the Conference.
Irish Aid has not funded this Conference previously.
453. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the reason that the Government is reluctant to see the appointment of an United States special envoy for Northern Ireland. [34195/22]
Amharc ar fhreagra566. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has had any recent discussions with the United States administration in relation to the appointment of a United States special envoy to Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34557/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 453 and 566 together.
The United States will continue to play a vital role in supporting peace, stability and prosperity in Northern Ireland. The role of the US Special Envoy to NI has been greatly valued by the Irish government over many years, and the appointment of a new Envoy was something I emphasised in my exchanges during my most recent visit to the United States two months ago.
The longstanding commitment to peace on the island of Ireland continues to be felt strongly in the US. The Good Friday Agreement and the peace process in Northern Ireland are not simply an achievement of the Irish and British Governments and the political representatives of the people of Northern Ireland, but one to which successive US Administrations and Members of Congress have also contributed, on a bipartisan basis.
Senator George Mitchell, the first Special Envoy for Northern Ireland appointed in 1995 by President Bill Clinton, played an instrumental role in building the cross-community consensus vital to achieving the Good Friday Agreement. In the years since, the work of successive Envoys – Richard Haass, Mitchell Reiss, Paula Dobriansky, Declan Kelly, Gary Hart, Mick Mulvaney – has been crucial to ensuring the implementation and protection of the hard-won gains of the peace process.
The Government welcomes all engagement and support by the US in current efforts to ensure the Good Friday Agreement is upheld, and in that context we would welcome the appointment of a US Special Envoy to Northern Ireland.
454. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if the Government will take cases on behalf of victims and survivors of British collusion to the European Court of Human Rights as in the case of persons (details supplied). [34196/22]
Amharc ar fhreagra542. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if the Government will investigate and prepare a court case for the European Court of Human Rights on the basis of the violation of the right to life as a result of the absence of any just and fair investigation into the murders that occurred as a result of British collusion given that the British Government will implement a law that will give amnesty to those who murdered in collusion with the British state. [34463/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 454 and 542 together.
It is deeply disappointing that the British Government has chosen to unilaterally introduce its 'Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill', and has in so doing moved away from the process agreed in the Stormont House Agreement, a process that was agreed by both Governments, political parties and victims and survivors groups.
We have profound concerns both on the substance of this Bill and the process of its drafting and introduction, and we are conscious that it has been strongly opposed by victims, by the Northern Ireland parties, and by civil society groups. I know that many families are upset by the publication and progress of this Bill, including those waiting for inquests or pursuing civil litigation. There will be many that understandably feel that immunity, conditional or otherwise, may be more about protecting perpetrators instead of pursuing justice and getting to the truth in such cases.
We also have serious questions with regard to the Bill's compliance with international human rights obligations, and in particular, as to whether the Bill complies with the positive obligation on states to carry out effective investigations into unlawful deaths required by Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers brought forward their examination of the McKerr Group of legacy cases at Ireland's request in light of the introduction of the Bill. The examination took place on 9 June. Ireland delivered a national statement during the debate, expressing serious concerns and questions with regard to the compatibility of the Bill with the European Convention on Human Rights. It is now expected that the UK will have to answer a series of questions on the legislation from the Secretariat, namely to explain how the Bill is convention compliant, and how it will gain public trust, ahead of a further discussion in Strasbourg in September.
The right of individual application is at the core of the system established by the European Convention on Human Rights. It is not generally the role of the European Court of Human Rights to examine the compatibility of a state’s domestic laws with the Convention in the abstract. Rather, the Court examines whether the application of a state’s domestic laws gives rise to a violation of the Convention in a given case, in light of the relevant factual circumstances. In doing so the Court will normally have the benefit of the evidence before the domestic courts as the impact of the state’s domestic laws on the Convention rights of the individual concerned.
Any future examination by the Court as to whether this Bill, if enacted, is compatible with the United Kingdom’s obligations under the Convention will necessarily turn on the factual circumstances of a given case. In order to do so, it must be in a position to assess its practical impact on the conduct of an inquest, prosecution, civil action, or police complaint, and whether this gives rise to a violation of the Convention in a given case.
In this light, discussion concerning the possibility of the referral of an inter-state case to the Court by Ireland concerning the Bill is, in the Government’s assessment, premature.
It is also important to note that since the entry into force of the Convention in 1953, there have been just over 30 such inter-state cases. The vast majority of inter-state cases before the Court arise from regional conflicts between contracting states. Ireland has only exercised the right to refer an inter-state case to the Court on one occasion previously (Ireland v United Kingdom (1972)). That case concerned practices which in the Government’s view amounted to torture, in breach of Article 3 of the Convention, and was taken against the background of the exercise by the United Kingdom of wide-ranging extrajudicial powers of arrest, detention, and internment in Northern Ireland.
As such, the case of Ireland v United Kingdom is illustrative of the grave and exceptional circumstances in which the Government will consider exercising its right to refer an inter-state case to the Court.
However, the Government has consistently been and remains fully committed to engaging with victims and families, with the parties in Northern Ireland and with the British Government to strongly advocate for a collective approach to legacy which is based the legitimate needs of victims and that, crucially, must meet its human rights obligations. We do not believe that the Bill in its current form meets those important tests. We will also continue to engage proactively with the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers on this issue and in support of families. Ireland’s current role as President of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe represents a timely opportunity to ensure that concerns regarding the compatibility of the Bill with the Convention are satisfactorily addressed by the British Government.
