Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will begin by asking the Tánaiste why we heard of this announcement yesterday morning? He will be conscious that the members of this committee are dealing in depth with the suggestion that we review the foreign policy and external relations of the Department. I put that on the agenda but I woke up one morning only to read in The Irish Times, which is delivered to my home, that this policy review was taking place. What way is that to communicate to the committee? The committee is due to report in early February. I would hope that when we submit our report to the Tánaiste it will substantially support a verbal and written contribution that was made by Graham Butler, who is based at the University of Copenhagen. He told us that in many ways the Tánaiste and the Government are subservient to this committee. I was surprised to read that a substantial number of new embassies are to open and join with consulates general when we were bringing in expert witnesses to debate foreign policy and external relations.
I support what the Tánaiste is doing in opening the new embassies but I am sceptical that all of that work can be done within the existing budget. We talk about oversight but in terms of what we are supposed to be debating now, one would want a team of workers to try to read what is in this huge document. Is the Tánaiste aware that the administrative budget for 2014 is down 23% compared to 2008? We have this magnificent programme of expanding the services of the diplomatic corps, which is welcome, but the administrative budget is way down. How many of these embassies will be opened two, three, four or five years from now? Is this an overall plan that envisages opening the consulates general and the embassies? We told people in Tehran that the reason we closed their embassy was because of financial constraints but their ambassador woke up this morning to the news that not only is the position changed drastically but that all these additional embassies are to open. They would rightly argue that before the ink was dry on the report we will send to the Department, they persevered in Ireland, notwithstanding that we closed the embassy in Tehran, and provided excellent supports for the opening of the beef and sheepmeat industries. They are waking up this morning and wondering, having received an Irish delegation and given its members fulsome support in entering the arena of international diplomacy, why we are opening embassies in countries that do not even have an embassy in Ireland. I am sure they are of the view, rightly, that if we believe Iran is evolving and that it is the centre of a region with a population of 800 million people, it is worthwhile considering what they have to say.
Our report will be ready in early February. I hope it will be an important report but I would like to register my request for an explanation as to the timing of, first, the press statement from the Tánaiste's Department in The Irish Timesthat he was about to carry out the foreign policy and external relations review and, second, the announcement that all these embassies will open at no extra cost. All of them will be within budget, notwithstanding the huge cuts that have affected the Department's administrative budget.
The Tánaiste gave a good report on the visit to Turkey. Will he give us a report on the trade visit to India and whether it was successful?