Minister Coveney welcomes Department of Foreign Affairs’ allocation under National Development Plan

At today’s launch of the National Development Plan (2022-2025), Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney TD said:

"The increase in the Department of Foreign Affairs’ capital allocation as part of the new National Development Plan is very welcome. This increase will allow my department to make vital investments in our Passport Reform Programme and in the delivery of the Global Ireland 2025 strategy.

"This next phase of the Passport Reform Project will focus on the updating of the passport processing and facial recognition technology systems to deliver a safe and secure on line service to Irish citizens worldwide.

"The doubling of the scope and impact of Ireland’s global footprint, as detailed in the government’s policy Global Ireland, remains a key priority of the department under the National Development Plan. This global network played a particularly important role in Ireland’s response to the initial phase of the pandemic, helping to secure vital public health material during the worldwide PPE shortage and facilitating the repatriation of over six thousand citizens stranded across the world."

Under this strategy, the government has committed to the opening of at least 26 new missions, the expansion and strengthening of Ireland’s presence across the European Union and its neighbourhood and the strengthening of our presence in the United States and other key strategic locations including the Asia-Pacific region, Africa, Latin and Central America, and the Middle East and Gulf region. To date Ireland has opened 12 new missions and 6 more are planned between now and the end of 2022.

Notes

Under the NDP, the Strategic Investment Priorities identified for the department come under National Strategic Outcome 11: Other Public Investment Sectors and include the following commitments:

the Passport Reform Programme under which the department has committed to developing a fully integrated citizen service delivering a global online passport service, which is more user-friendly, efficient and more secure for this citizen critical service
investment in a high quality global ICT infrastructure supporting advance technologies that deliver excellent public services by connecting citizens, staff and stakeholders through best-in-class technologies as guided by the department’s ICT Strategic Framework while at the same time protecting the highly sensitive and confidential information held by the department to support government policy
the doubling of the scope and impact of Ireland’s global footprint as detailed in the government’s policy Global Ireland – Ireland’s Global Footprint to 2025
the construction, refurbishment, enhancement of security works and the development of Ireland Houses with the State Agencies in strategic locations. This investment in the department’s Global Property Portfolio ensures that Irish missions have the office and promotional/representational capacity necessary to fulfil their responsibilities for hosting events that highlight Ireland as an opportunity for investment and promote trade, economic and cultural opportunities. This is a key deliverable under the Global Ireland 2025 Strategy and will support Ireland’s economic recovery

Minister Coveney welcomes Department of Foreign Affairs’ allocation under National Development Plan

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