Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Over the past four years, my Department has made significant progress across a wide range of policy areas, framed by our commitments under the Programme for Government. This was done while continuing to provide first class consular and passport services to Irish citizens at home and overseas, and are once again on track to issue over one million passports in 2024.

All this has been achieved in an increasingly unstable and complex geopolitical context, with the initial disruption of the COVID 19 pandemic and its implications, Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine, crises in Afghanistan and Sudan, and conflict in the Middle East, imposing significant demands on my Department and its staff in Ireland and around the world.

Throughout this period, my Department has successfully navigated these challenges while continuing to promote Ireland’s values and advancing our prosperity and interests abroad.

We have continued to provide consular assistance to Irish citizens who find themselves in distress overseas. The COVID pandemic necessitated the most extensive repatriation operation in the history of the State and post-COVID, the level of demand for Consular Assistance has quickly returned to pre-pandemic levels, with 2,043 new cases in 2023. Consular cases are also becoming more complex. We have observed significant increases in deportations, victims of crimes, and the numbers presenting with issues relating to their mental health and wellbeing while also having to manage large-scale operations like the evacuation of over 100 Irish citizens and dependants from Gaza. To help citizens make informed decisions, my Department’s travel advice service, TravelWise, is reaching more citizens than ever before. We are ensuring key groups engage with our messaging around smart travel, through campaigns like this year’s Make the Right Memories campaign, targeted at young adults.

The situation in the Middle East has been a key foreign policy priority throughout the term of this government and particularly in recent months. I have travelled to the region on a number of occasions over the last year and engaged extensively with EU and international counterparts on the Middle East Peace Process in general and the current crisis in particular.

In May 2024 the Government, alongside Norway and Spain, formally recognised the State of Palestine as a sovereign and independent state and established full diplomatic relations, in line with our Programme for Government commitment.

Earlier, in March 2024, I directed officials to commence work towards preparing a Declaration of Intervention in the South Africa vs. Israel case. The Attorney General appeared at the ICJ in February 2024 and set out Ireland’s comprehensive legal analysis in the advisory opinion proceedings on the legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory. Ireland has also campaigned for agreement at EU level on sanctions against violent settlers in the West Bank who are attacking and displacing Palestinian communities, and together with measures against Hamas, the EU has agreed to advance such actions. In February 2024, Ireland and Spain requested that the European Commission carry out an urgent review of whether Israel is complying with its human rights obligations under the EU-Israel Association Agreement and will continue to pursue this issue at the Foreign Affairs Council and the European Council. In keeping with our commitment to fund the United Nations Relief & Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Ireland has provided political and financial support for UNRWA, including the announcement of a further €20 million of assistance this year. I will continue to engage extensively with European and Middle East partners to address this devastating crisis and build momentum towards full implementation of the two-State solution.

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion, we have continued to stand with Ukraine, providing humanitarian and stabilisation support, supporting the strongest sanctions against Russia, and engaging with international partners to ensure accountability for any crimes committed in Ukraine. Since February 2022, Ireland has committed over €380 million, including approximately €130 million in stabilisation and humanitarian supports, of which over €40 million has been allocated in 2024, and approximately €250 million of non-lethal military assistance under the European Peace Facility.

More broadly, in response to the evolving geopolitical context and wider threat environment in Europe, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Defence convened a Consultative Forum on International Security Policy to begin a serious and honest conversation on Ireland’s foreign and security policy.

The Government has sustained efforts to support peace and reconciliation on our island, leading to the successful restoration of the Executive and institutions of the Good Friday Agreement in early 2024, as well as marking the 25^thanniversary of the Agreement at home and abroad. We have made good use of institutions established under the Good Friday Agreement to engage with the British government and address the legacy of the Troubles. My Department has met with victims, bereaved families and communities in Northern Ireland to reaffirm good progress has been achieved in the implementation of the Shared Island initiative.

We have continued to successfully navigate the complex out-workings of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. We ensured that our key objectives were met, both in relation to Northern Ireland and the overall EU-UK trade and cooperation arrangements, which have brought predictability and stability for business and traders across the island, underpinning the all-island economy. We will continue to work to ensure the Windsor Framework is implemented fully and in good faith, including engagement with EU partners.

The relationship between Ireland and the UK remains vitally important and central to sustaining prosperity and peace across these islands. My Department has worked with our British counterparts to maintain and strengthen the relationships between these islands. This work has intensified in recent months following the change in Government in the UK. We have also established frameworks for cooperation with the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales, as well as strengthening ties with the North of England through a new Consulate-General in Manchester – work that we will look forward to progressing further with the new UK government.

Deepening our EU relationships and our influence at EU level has been a central focus of my Department. The Programme for Government made a particular commitment to marking 50 years of Irish membership of the EU which was delivered through a wide-ranging EU50 Programme (2022-2023) to celebrate and communicate the benefits of EU membership. 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 and my Department is leading work on preparations across government for our Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2026. In May this year, Ireland celebrated the 20^thanniversary of the Day of Welcomes, the EU’s largest ever expansion which took place during Ireland’s EU Presidency in 2004.

We successfully concluded the Irish Presidency of the Council of Europe’sCommittee of Ministers in 2022, including the agreement to hold only the fourth-ever Summit of Heads of State of the 46 member countries in response to the Ukraine war.

Our commitment to climate action, gender equality, strengthening governance, and the reduction of poverty, hunger and humanitarian need as outlined in A Better World has remained constant with Ireland delivering record amounts of Official Development Assistance since 2020, enabling the country to respond to complex human needs and humanitarian crises around the world.

Preliminary international official development assistance figures published in April 2024 by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, show that Ireland's ODA for 2023 stood at €2.6 billion, including eligible costs for Ukrainian refugees. This represents 0.67% of Gross National Income.

In global health, my Department has continued to work to advance universal access to the full range of quality healthcare services. We place a particular focus on improving health outcomes for women and girls, including in humanitarian settings. We are also committed to scaling up support for quality education, with a focus on girls’ education and education in crisis settings. Our focus on food and nutrition and the strengthening of food systems has grown. In 2023 alone, Ireland provided €284 million for action and programmes on food (including humanitarian food assistance), agriculture and nutrition.

Moreover, in the face of escalating humanitarian needs, Ireland’s funding for humanitarian response has increased steadily in recent years and Ireland is recognised as a strong, principled donor, whose assistance is provided based on the humanitarian principles of independence, neutrality, impartiality and humanity.

In 2022, the Department of Foreign Affairs led on a cross-governmental process to formulate Ireland’s International Climate Finance Roadmap, which sets out how Ireland will deliver on the target of providing at least €225 million per year in international climate finance by 2025. We are on track to meet this target.

My Department continued to drive the implementation of the Government’s Global Ireland 2025 strategy, significantly expanding our mission network.We now have 102 missions across the globe and planning is underway for a further five new missions (Belgrade, Sarajevo, Chisinau, Melbourne and Málaga) as well as further development of the “Ireland House” model, including digitally through ireland.ie.

My Department led an all-of-Government approach to Ireland’s presence at Expo 2020 in Dubai, promoting Irish business and investment opportunities in the UAE and beyond, and preparations for Expo 2025 in Osaka are well underway.

Moreover, in line with the Programme for Government my department has continued to lead on the development and implementation of a range of all-of-Government regional strategies covering the US & Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East & North Africa, and Small Island & Developing States (SIDS).

During this period, Ireland served as an elected member of the UN Security Council for the fourth time in its history, where we were active across the whole Council agenda. We successfully co-led on negotiations to twice extend the mandate of the lifesaving UN cross-border humanitarian operation into Syria; led on negotiations to successfully renew Operation Althea in Bosnia-Herzegovina; championed human rights in Afghanistan - particularly for women and girls; and led efforts to bring the conflict and dire humanitarian situation in Ethiopia to the attention of the Council. Ireland tabled (in conjunction with Niger) a Climate and Security resolution garnering support from 113 member states. We successfully negotiated a landmark Resolution on peacekeeping transitions and were also a co-penholder for a resolution carving out a broad humanitarian exemption for UN Sanctions in December 2022.

More broadly, we continued to champion support for multilateralism and a fair, rules-based international. We played an instrumental role in achieving progress on Loss and Damage at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) and at COP28 in 2023 we have again been central to efforts to increase climate ambition. My Department played an active and constructive role in the negotiations leading to the adoption in June 2023 of the UN Agreement on Marine Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), a historic global oceans treaty that has the potential to significantly enhance the protection of the marine environment. 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)” which was endorsed by 83 States from across the world, a milestone disarmament achievement. My officials were also instrumental earlier this year as Ireland served as co-facilitator of negotiations and secured agreement on the Political Declaration for the Sustainable Development Goals Summit in September 2023. My Department also led on several other high level conferences over the period, such as the Global Diaspora Summit in April 2022 and the European Congress on Global Citizenship Education (GCE) in November 2022.

Our strategic focus on North America continued with high-level visits in both directions since 2020, including our annual programme of St Patrick’s Day visits to North America and President Biden’s visit to Ireland in 2023. It was a significant moment in the bilateral relationship and provided the Government with a unique opportunity to discuss our mutually beneficial economic relationship and our shared commitment to building peace and prosperity on the island of Ireland. With the opening of a new Consulate-General in Miami, Ireland’s diplomatic presence in the US has been further strengthened.

We launched our Global Ireland Diaspora Strategy 2020 – 2025 in November 2020, and have continued support for Irish communities abroad through funding for the Emigrant Support Programme (ESP). My Department also hosted the Global Irish Civic Forum in 2023, a gathering of Irish community representatives from across the world. The forum discussed support for communities abroad, promotion of Irish cultural heritage and sport, network building, reaching the next generations of the diaspora, and much more, and highlighted the critical importance of continued Government support for Ireland’s diaspora and representative organisations.

My Department is also taking forward, in close collaboration with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the commitment in the Programme for Government to build on Ireland’s first National Plan on Business and Human Rights. Development of Ireland’s second National Plan illustrates our continued dedication to implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the global standard for promoting adherence to human rights in business activities.