Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the establishment of the Export Trade Council. Specifically, will the Tánaiste indicate if within our embassies there is a strategic plan for the promotion of trade and tourism? It is all very well to have an idea that we should be out there, but unless we work to a very specific and appropriate plan, we will get nowhere. How many new diplomatic missions are envisaged or planned in the context of the need to aggressively promote ourselves in the trade sector? How many missions are without an ambassador? For example, we are without an ambassador in Australia. How long, on average, does it take to replace somebody when he ro she retires or leaves a post?

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