Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Government decision in November 2011 to close our resident embassies to the Holy See and Iran and our development office in East Timor was taken with considerable reluctance as part of a necessary budget process to reduce costs. The closure of the resident embassy to the Holy See has yielded substantial savings, not least as it enabled the significantly larger embassy to Italy and the residence of the ambassador to Italy to be relocated to the State-owned Villa Spada, formerly occupied by the embassy to the Holy See, thereby saving €445,000 per annum in rent on two properties.

As the Deputy is aware, the Government decided to appoint the Secretary General of my Department as non-resident ambassador to the Holy See, thereby ensuring that contact with the Holy See is maintained at the highest possible diplomatic level. Ambassador Cooney travels to Rome regularly and was present last week for the inauguration of Pope Francis, to which he accompanied the President and the Minister for Finance who represented the Government and subsequently at the Pope’s meeting with the Diplomatic Corps. I am satisfied that the current arrangement for Ireland’s representation at the Holy See is the most effective possible in light of the resource constraints faced by my Department.

The resident embassy to the Holy See will not be reopened in the immediate term. I will, however, be keeping the deployment of our diplomatic and consular resources under review in light of ongoing national priorities and the availability of resources.

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