Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Total expenditure on overseas ministerial travel at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in the calendar year 2013, including airfares, accommodation and travel and subsistence and other costs, amounted to just over €228,500. This included the cost of travel of Ministers and staff attached to Ministerial offices. Of this total, the travel costs of the Tánaiste and the costs of the staff attached to his office, amounted to €102,412. The overseas travel undertaken by the Tánaiste, the Minister for Trade and Development and myself, is fully in the national interest and represents good value for money.

The core functions of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are predominantly concerned with international political and security policy, advancing reconciliation and cooperation on the island of Ireland, EU enlargement and external relations, and promoting Ireland’s economic and trade interests in Europe and internationally. The overseas travel undertaken by the Tánaiste, the Minister for Trade and Development and I is in pursuit of these goals. For example, the Tánaiste travelled to the UN General Assembly in September 2013 to meet with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to discuss issues of critical importance including the ongoing conflict in Syria and the Middle East peace process, as well as co-chairing a major event on the Millennium Development Goals.

Trade promotion and economic messaging are key elements in all visits abroad undertaken by the Tánaiste and Ministers from the Department. In 2013, the Tánaiste undertook a political and trade mission to China (Beijing and Shanghai) at the invitation of the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi. The purpose of the visit was to strengthen the high-level political engagement necessary to deliver on the Strategic Partnership Agreement between Ireland and China. He also had a series of engagements focused on supporting Irish companies doing business in China, promoting Ireland as a tourist destination, and promoting Ireland as the best investment location for Chinese businesses looking to expand in Europe. In addition, he led an Enterprise Ireland trade mission to Turkey. Deals secured during the visit are expected to reach well over €30m in value.

Whenever Ministers travel on official business overseas, every effort is made to ensure that appropriate opportunities are taken for a substantive economic and promotional dimension to the visit. In this regard, St. Patrick’s Day offers a unique opportunity to promote Ireland’s economic and political interests overseas, with levels of publicity and media attention unmatched by the national day of any other country. In March 2013, the Tánaiste travelled to the United States, Ireland’s most important source of Foreign Direct Investment, our largest market for exports of merchandise and a vital tourism market.

The purpose of his travel there was to return maximum economic benefit to Ireland as well as availing of the political access available to advance issues such as maintaining vital US support for the Northern Ireland peace process, and on bilateral issues including US immigration reform. Such Ministerial visits are also important to Irish communities abroad, and an occasion to engage with those of Irish descent, whose friendship and support is such an asset to us.Much of the travel undertaken in 2013 by the Minister for Trade and Development Joe Costello T.D. also included a substantial trade focus. He led Enterprise Ireland trade missions to Canada, Belgium and South Africa/Nigeria.

The contracts won and the contacts made during trade missions lead to job creation and long-term economic benefits for Ireland. In October, Minister Costello accompanied An tUachtarán na hÉireann during state visits to Mexico, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. This visit reinforced Ireland’s strong relations with these countries and served to emphasise Ireland’s interest in developing and expanding political and trade relations with the Latin American and Caribbean region. Other overseas travel undertaken by him included travel related to international humanitarian and development issues, including travel to Irish Aid programme countries. His total travel costs in 2013 were €43,277.

The travel costs for the Department in 2013 included exceptional once-off costs associated with Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union during the first six months of 2013. The travel costs for former Minister of State for EU Affairs Lucinda Creighton T.D. amounted to €70,894 in 2013. In her capacity as then Minister for European Affairs during the Presidency, she travelled almost 200,000km and visited 44 countries. In succeeding Deputy Creighton in this role, I have built upon the excellent work conducted during the Presidency. As part of my role as Minister for European Affairs, I attended the monthly meetings of the General Affairs Council and the European Council with the Taoiseach as well deputising for Minister Noonan at the meeting of the ECOFIN Council and Eurogroup.

It is the firm belief of the Government that our relationship with the Member States of the European Union is an essential element of our foreign policy agenda, both in the realm of bilateral relations and in the context of the European Union. To this end, I undertook eleven bilateral trips from the date of taking office to the end of last year. These visits included engagements with business communities, the Diaspora, the local media as well as with my counterparts and key political figures with the sole objective of repairing our reputation with our partners, advancing our interests and strengthening our relations across the full range of the Department’s objectives. In addition to these bilateral visits, I also represented the Government at the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius. Not only was this Summit significant, given that Ireland was in the OSCE Chairmanship in Office Trio, but it was also the Forum at which negotiations on an EU Association Agreement with Ukraine collapsed. Events have since demonstrated how pivotal that moment has been. I also represented the Government at the 11^th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in New Delhi, during which, in addition to advancing our positions at the Plenary, I held a number of bilateral discussions with our partners in Asia.

Furthermore, the Government clearly recognises the importance of the European Parliament in EU decision making and has committed to Ministerial attendance at as many Plenary Sessions as is practical. In this regard, I attended a Plenary Session in the second half of last year. These overseas travel costs came to €11, 919 in 2013.

During the EU Presidency, it was necessary for the Tánaiste to travel to Brussels and Luxembourg on a regular basis. The programme for the visits to Brussels and Luxembourg usually involved back-to-back monthly meetings of the General Affairs Council, which he chaired for the duration of the Presidency, and the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC). He also represented the Council at key political level meetings with the European Parliament and the European Commission in relation to the EU Budget for the period 2014-2020. After intensive negotiations, agreement on the EU budget was reached in the final days of June, and was widely regarded as a major achievement of the Irish Presidency.

During this period, the Tánaiste also substituted for High Representative Catherine Ashton on seven occasions in which he either chaired or participated in meetings. This included four engagements at the European Parliament - three debriefs to the Foreign Affairs Committee on the outcome of the FAC and one address to the European Parliament - as well as an address to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.