Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

All of our missions abroad will remain under ongoing review. I am not offering any hope or prospect that the position can be changed, either in the short term or in the foreseeable future, because there are financial and staffing considerations which militate against such a change. We have a small diplomatic team and we must concentrate our efforts. Compared to other countries, we have a small number of resident missions and we must be extremely focused in the context of how we use them. Diplomatic relations will continue with the three states to which the original question refers and which are very important. Diplomatic relations with the Vatican are particularly important and that is why we have decided to seek to have a senior diplomat from Dublin accredited as a non-resident ambassador to the Holy See. We will have an ambassador to the Holy See but he or she will be a senior diplomat based in Dublin. We can review the question of having a resident mission to the Vatican when the position relating to the financial and staffing considerations to which I refer changes.

See this speech in context