Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Cathaoirleach very much for his forbearance and facilitation. I also thank the members of the committee. With the Cathaoirleach's agreement, I will now present for the committee's consideration the Supplementary Estimates for the Department of Foreign Affairs. These relate to Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs. In total, the request we are making is for a net increase of €88.3 million in Vote 28. This will increase the total voted net expenditure ceiling for the Department of Foreign Affairs from to €272.791 million to €361.091 million in 2024.

Members will have received the advance briefing note provided by my Department. This summarises the reasons for the increases, which I will be happy to explain in a bit more detail and then respond to any further questions that the committee might have.

The Department’s request is for an additional allocation of €98.3 million gross, or €88.3 million net. This takes account of anticipated additional income of €10 million, mainly arising from passports. The specific reasons for the Supplementary Estimate are as follows. The largest part, €74 million, relates to Ireland’s contributions to multilateral organisations. This can be broken down into two main components. First, we are seeking €42 million in respect of Ireland’s contributions to the European Peace Facility, an instrument aimed at enhancing the European Union's ability to prevent conflicts, build peace and strengthen international security. Given the huge upsurge in needs, emanating in particular from the conflict in Ukraine, a number of decisions have been taken in the past year providing for increases in the ceiling of the EPF, and this now stands at over €17 billion. Based on that ceiling and the gross national income key that currently applies, Ireland’s total commitment up to 2027 stands at approximately €400 million, of which approximately €250 million arises in respect of Ukraine, and the Supplementary Estimate will go towards that. Ireland fully supports Ukraine in defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity, in line with Article 51 of the UN charter. It is worth recalling that total support for Ukraine under the EPF now amounts to €11.1 billion. In line with commitments in the programme for Government, Ireland has abstained from decisions to supply lethal equipment and does not contribute financially to these aspects of the packages. Instead, our contribution is directed exclusively towards the provision of non-lethal support. Typical examples of the kind of non-lethal assistance provided under the EPF include vehicles, medical equipment, first-aid kits, food parcels, personal protective equipment such as helmets and body armour, uniforms and fuel.

Second, an additional €32 million is requested in respect of Ireland’s assessed contributions to the UN system, in particular, our share of UN peacekeeping costs and the UN general fund and other mandatory costs. Ireland is a strong supporter of global co-operation and has long been committed to multilateralism, in particular, through our membership of the United Nations. Ensuring a strong and effective UN, including through the prompt and full payment of the requisite mandatory contributions, is a key objective of Ireland’s foreign policy.

Mandatory or assessed contributions to the UN can be broken into three parts: the UN regular budget; the peacekeeping budget; and the budget for UN international criminal tribunals. Ireland’s mandatory contributions for the current three-year period are assessed at 0.439% of the UN budgets, an increase of 18.3% over the previous three-year period; this is reflective of Ireland’s increased GNI.

Ireland’s contributions, by virtue of our membership of the UN, are calculated in accordance with the UN budgetary process and contributions are not evenly spread over the three-year payment cycle operated by the UN. Hence, Ireland’s annual contributions are very difficult to estimate due to the nature of this UN process and the timing of the Irish budget-setting process.

A large share of the UN's expenditure addresses its core mission of peace and security. The peacekeeping budget can vary significantly from year to year in line with the size and complexity of operations mandated by the UN Security Council, many of which are subject to annual change. At close to $6.6 billion for the current year, the peacekeeping budget significantly exceeds the UN regular budget, largely due to the increase in the size, number and complexity of these operations worldwide.

A sum of €3 million is requested for administration pay under programme A - advancing Ireland’s foreign policy. This will allow us to meet our pay obligations under the public sector pay agreement 2024-2026. In addition, under the same programme, I request a further €12 million in non-pay administration costs. This funding will support the fit-out of existing and new properties overseas, including new Ireland House premises, as well as higher than anticipated rental, maintenance and energy costs at our properties overseas.

The Department of Foreign Affairs is currently managing a significant number of property projects to realise the ambition of the Global Ireland initiative to enhance Ireland’s global impact and influence to 2025 and beyond. These include: the construction of a new Ireland House in Tokyo, the largest capital investment that the Department has ever made, representing Ireland’s strong commitment to our partnership with Japan; construction of a new embassy office in Abuja; and new Ireland Houses in New York, Chicago and Singapore.

A sum of €4.3 million is requested for the reconciliation and North-South co-operation under the A3 programme. This additional funding, on a once-off basis, is sought by way of Supplementary Estimate to enable the establishment of a permanent professorship in Irish history in Cambridge University. This will facilitate the provision of this high profile Irish history teaching and research position on a permanent and sustainable financial basis though the establishment of an endowment fund. This position will bring a range of benefits for this country and for wider British-Irish relations.

Finally, €5 million is requested to meet operational needs of the passport service under programme B - passport service. This €5 million request comprises €1 million for pay and €4 million in non-pay. The latter will facilitate the purchase of passport books now to ensure continuity of supplies of books during 2025 for this essential citizen service.

In the context of the national development plan, the Department continues to modernise and improve the Irish passport, as well as the systems that underpin production and service delivery for our citizens. The passport reform programme will encompass the redesign and modernisation of the passport book and card, as well as the replacement of existing high-security printing machinery required for passport personalisation. The modernisation of the core back office technology for passport and foreign birth registration processing remains a priority for the passport service. The current software is nearly 20 years old and as we continue to expand our efficiency and capacity for application processing, it must be upgraded. This will ensure that the passport service remains resilient and agile in response to future passport demand.

Our discussion today is focused on the Supplementary Estimate for my Department. However, I also wish to underline to this committee and this House that the situation in Israel, Palestine and the wider Middle East region remains a central priority for my Department. For more than 13 months, we have witnessed horrific scenes. The attack by Hamas on 7 October of last year was one of the worst acts of terrorism that the region has experienced. The Government has condemned this without reservation. Since then, the high number of civilian casualties in Gaza has been absolutely shocking. The scale of death, destruction and unimaginable human suffering in Gaza is truly horrific and completely unacceptable and beyond any moral compass. It represents the collective punishment of an entire people, particularly in northern Gaza. We are essentially witnessing the removal of a population from that particular part of the territory.

Despite calls for de-escalation, we instead are seeing the extension of conflict, in the West Bank and more recently in Lebanon. Massive and indiscriminate air strikes on densely populated areas in Lebanon are resulting in a shocking loss of life. Israel has an obligation to abide by international humanitarian law. I call on it to do so. I call on all parties to de-escalate and to exercise restraint. Let me assure the committee that both I and my officials will continue to play a lead role at EU and international level, through our political engagement and diplomatic efforts, through our unwavering support for the United Nations and commitment to international law, through our financial support to the Palestinian people, through our commitment to the UNIFIL mission in Lebanon and through our consular support to our citizens on the ground. I attended a meeting the week before last in Paris on Lebanon with Arab states and EU member states in an effort to identify a potential role for UNIFIL in a post-ceasefire scenario in Lebanon as well as strengthening the Lebanese armed forces. I look forward to discussing the occupied territories Bill later, as outlined by the Chair. I will deal with that in the latter part of the meeting.