Senator Gerard Craughwell- speech from 29 Jun 2021

Thank you very much for selecting this important topic. Minister, you're welcome to the House. Minister, Ireland has always played a part in international peace and stability missions. The Department of Foreign Affairs currently has 11 Irish mission members seconded to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe as part of the Special Monitoring Mission to the Ukraine. They have been on this mission for the last seven years. The 11 secundees receive no remuneration from the state. Instead, they are paid a board and living allowance directly from the OSCE. There are a number of problems with this, Minister. Firstly, Ireland has the distinction of being the only state which does not pay its secundees in the Ukraine. For example, UK members are paid a salary on top of their board and living allowance. For the past seven years, Irish secundees have been paid no salary and therefore no PRSI contributions. When they return to Ireland, they will have a massive gap in their PRSI contributions, with all the attendant consequence for accessing unemployment benefits and state contributive pension later in their lives, despite having been employed. The Ukraine is considered to be a high-risk mission, and while an additional small daily stipend is paid to Irish secundees by the OSCE for those in very high-risk areas, the Irish state pays nothing. Secondly, members of the mission have been trying to raise this issue with the Irish government and the Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2016, and no answer has been forthcoming, apart from saying that it was under review. It beggars belief, Minister, that it would take the best part of five years to make such a decision. We are either going to pay them or we are not, and the very least the state could do would be to dignify them with an answer. The case submitted in 2016 had the support of both the Ambassador and the Assistant Secretary-General in your department. I am aware that the case was submitted by Ambassador DG O'Leary to the Secretary-General and Minister on 4 November 2016. Subsequently, the case was submitted to the Management Board meeting on 11 July 2017 for E&P, European Neighbourhood and Policy Division. This made a very reasonable suggestion that the monitors be given a monthly payment of either £2,000 or £3,000 per month to a maximum of 12 monitors. The case provided a detailed rationale for the payment, including how much out-of-step Ireland is compared to other EU and non-EU counterparts. I have heard anecdotally that the Department of Foreign Affairs believes that there may be a legal issue in ring-fencing payments to this cohort, but other nations do not have the same problem. Thirdly, Minister, I have a very serious concern about the lack of support being given to these secondees who remain in place on the mission during the most serious pandemic this world has ever seen. I find it upsetting that no one from the Department of Foreign Affairs contacted these Irish citizens to see that they were okay at any stage over the last two years. Again, this contrasts sharply with the experience of mission operatives from other states who receive high-level or direct engagement from their sponsoring authorities in their countries of origin. This includes being contacted during the pandemic regarding their safety as well as directly arranging their repatriation. I can't even imagine how these loyal Irish and faithful people feel when their international colleagues were treated so well by their countries, while the Irish team received was a deafening silence. We're very quick to say how proud we are of those who represent this country overseas on peacekeeping and stability missions, but would appear not so quick to treat them with the common decency and respect they deserve. We should, as a nation, be ashamed. I hope that you have some good news today, Minister, and that you will take what I have said on board. Thank you very much. Good. Seánadóir. Ára, Inís. Go raibh. Go raibh. Just to say that I don't have printed copies of my script, but I know that my office is now in touch with your office about that, just to arrange them as soon as we can in the next few minutes, I think, so I apologise for that at the outset, but that will be rectified shortly. Go raibh. The issue of any possible remuneration or benefits for those Irish citizens working for the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine is under review by the Department of Foreign Affairs, and I expect that a conclusion will be reached this year. There are currently 10 Irish citizens working in the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine. Ireland contributes directly to the OSCE and the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission budgets, but like many OSCE participating states, we don't offer additional payment packages to Irish citizens directly recruited and employed by the OSCE. So Irish citizens can apply for two categories of OSCE positions. Contracted positions offer salaries and other allowances and benefits that are similar to those offered under the United Nations Commons system. The other category of posts includes payments from the OSCE of a boarding and lodging allowance, currently €125 a day, and a package of life and disability insurance. The employment is limited to the duration of the mission mandate and is renewed formally every year. Some Special Monitoring Mission members, those serving in Donetsk and Luhansk-Oblatts, also receive an additional €30 in hazard pay. The OSCE covers the costs of travel from Vienna to field missions and travel expenses for a return trip home once per year. The recruitment process is handled by the OSCE and Irish citizens have a clear choice of applying for contracted jobs or for positions that provide a less comprehensive package of allowances. For those Irish citizens interested in working overseas, the Department and the EU job system provide many opportunities and a variety of potential positions. The Department itself runs a Rapid Response Core roster of highly skilled professionals deployed at short notice to humanitarian emergencies for a period of three to six months. The Department also deploys Irish citizens to the European Union Common Security and Defence Policy missions. Those positions are remunerated with a stipend provided with an allowance for living costs and reimbursed for a number of expenses. Irish citizens applying for positions with the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, or indeed any other positions within the OSCE, have all the conditions of employment outlined prior to the application process. The rules are transparent, and the Department, when approached, is very clear about the lack of remuneration or allowances from the Department of Foreign Affairs. There are many different approaches taken by the OSCE participating states, ranging from comprehensive to more basic. The majority of states pay nothing in addition to their citizens working for the OSCE, so there is no common approach from EU member states on this issue. Nonetheless, the Department is once again considering the possible ways of providing additional benefits to Irish citizens working for the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, and will make a decision on this in the coming months. Thank you, Minister, Minister, I know that you are aware of the impact, particularly of the lack of payments of PRSI, and how that will impact people. You and I have often discussed PRSI, so I do know that you are committed to that. Minister, all I can ask is that you would have the decision expedited as quickly as possible. I mean, I understand that people know what they are getting into when they sign up for these jobs, but they do not realise sometimes the full impact that it is going to have on their future lives, particularly in areas like PRSI. So, I know that you have given a commitment today to see to it that a decision will be made, and I appreciate your time on it, and I thank you for coming to the House. And you might contact my office when you do know that a decision has been made. Thank you very much. Thank you, Carheerlach. Thank you very much, Senator Grockwell, Minister. Just to conclude, look, the Department and me personally have huge respect for Irish citizens working in various institutions around the world, and indeed, a number of the affected people were in touch directly with me after my appointment as Minister for European Affairs. This month, I also had a meeting with the OSCE Secretary General, Helga Schmidt, and was quite delighted to see a number of Irish people at very, very senior levels within that organisation. So, Irish people are right through that organisation, and it's a very, very important organisation with a lower profile than perhaps it should have. But you mentioned the particular mission here in Ukraine, and we see how important and dangerous that can be. So, the importance of the contribution of Irish citizens is widely recognised, and the conditions of employment of these organisations vary. I clearly understand from hearing some of these individuals myself who wrote to me that the conditions of work may not be satisfactory or competitive. We are looking at this, it is being reviewed, and I'm confident that a decision will be taken in the coming months. Thank you very much.