The Government is to approve the appointment of Ireland’s first full Ambassador from Palestine, giving effect to its decision in May to recognise the State of Palestine.
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin will seek approval on Tuesday from the Government to establish the position, following an increase in status for the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Ireland.
Formal diplomatic relations between Ireland and the State of Palestine were established on September 29th of this year through an exchange of diplomatic notes.
On October 17th the government of the State of Palestine formally notified the Department of Foreign Affairs of its intention to change Palestine’s representation in Ireland to a resident embassy under the Vienna Convention.
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Palestine is currently represented in Ireland by the Palestinian Mission, headed by an “ambassador – Head of Mission”.
The upgrade in status of the Palestinian mission to that of a resident embassy means that the diplomatic mission will now enjoy the full range of privileges and immunities applicable under the Vienna Convention.
The Government first approved the establishment of a Palestinian Delegation in Dublin in late 1993.
Separately, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly will tell ministerial colleagues on Tuesday that there has been a reduction of almost 50 per cent in waiting times to see a hospital consultant. In an update on his department’s waiting list action plan, he will say there has also been a reduction of almost 60 per cent in the number of people waiting for 12 months in the three years between August 2021 and September 2024. The department has said this equates to almost 169,000 people.
Mr Donnelly’s memo to the Cabinet meeting will also note that the outpatient department list has been reduced from 13 months in September 2021 to 7.2 months at the end of September 2024.
Minister for Education Norma Foley will seek approval to implement the budget-day decision to reduce school transport scheme fees and to waive the fees for State examinations.
The waiver of the examination fee of €119 for Leaving Certificate students and €109 for Junior Cycle students will benefit 100,000 students sitting State examinations in 2025.
Annual school transport fees were €100 for primary students and €350 for secondary school students, with a family cap of €650 per year. These fees have been reduced to €50 for a primary schoolchild and €75 for a post-primary pupil. The maximum fee for a family is €125.
An updated strategy on using Artificial Intelligence (AI) will also be brought to Cabinet by Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke, three years after the previous one. The last iteration of the strategy was completed only in 2021 but so many changes have occurred since then, including the development of generative AI.
Mr Burke will say he intends to support a national campaign to raise awareness among SMEs about the benefits of AI. The State will need to develop a number of third-level courses in AI, he will tell colleagues.
Mr Burke recently held a number of meetings with Open AI during his visit to California. He has said this AI research group, which is the company behind Chat GPT, is willing to collaborate further with Ireland in developing systems.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee will also provide Cabinet with a half-year update on her Zero Tolerance Plan to Tackle Domestic, Sexual and Gender based Violence. She has listed a number of initiatives including the establishment of the Cuan agency which specifically deals with this area; updates to the criminal law; and body-worn cameras. She will say funding in this area has now increased to €70 million.
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