Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Prior to the secondment of individuals to third level institutions and as ambassadors, had that happened prior to recent times? Had retiring Secretaries General gone to academia or the diplomatic corps?

The Deputy will understand I do not have full visibility but, as I understand it, it is a common enough practice within the Department of Foreign Affairs that the Secretary General of that Department would take up an ambassadorship-----