Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister for that information but we do not know a great deal more than we did before I asked the question. Key to this is whether the Minister had discussions in advance of the Cabinet meeting with the Taoiseach on this matter.

After a year working hard in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, is the Minister prepared to take advice from someone who has a quarter of a century of distinguished service in the Department, Mr. Seán Donlon, who raised fundamental questions about the Minister's decision to close this important listening post, an action which, in fact, was contrary to statements that the Minister himself had made by way of written reply to Members of this House some time ago?

Can the Minister brief Members as to whether he is prepared to engage actively via the new non-resident ambassador, Mr. David Cooney, with the Vatican in terms of the possibility of Villa Spada serving as a dual-purpose embassy or being divided so that part of it may deliver the service to the Vatican while the other part could service Rome? That is something that has been put out there into the ether. Is the Minister actively engaged in that?

I put it to the Minister that this is an issue that will not go away. I do not wish to have us returning to this time and time again on Question Time, but it is something that the people are concerned about. It is something that is of fundamental importance in terms of our diplomatic role on the world stage. The Minister is currently campaigning for Ireland to win membership of the human rights committee of the UN and, in that regard, we should have particular cognisance of the role the Vatican has played, and can play, in assisting us. If the Minister reads the interesting letter in The Irish Times today from Mr. Michael Lillis, he can see the role that the Vatican played in informing those who were involved in an initiative in Cuba way back in 1988.

See this speech in context