Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Ireland’s diplomatic and consular network is at the forefront of efforts to promote our political and economic interests and values and in providing important services for the people and business community. Ireland’s diplomatic network comprises 56 embassies, seven multilateral missions and ten consulates general and other offices. This network will be further expanded as the new missions approved by the Government in January are set up this year. The configuration of the State’s diplomatic and consular network is kept under ongoing review by the Government. A range of factors are taken into account in considering our diplomatic representation overseas, including national political, economic and trade priorities, as well as the availability of resources. This question is also being considered in the context of the review of Ireland’s foreign policy and external relations being undertaken by my Department.

I can confirm that consideration was given to reopening the embassy in Tehran as part of the current expansion of our mission network. However, as I noted during my recent appearance before the Oireachtas Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade to discuss my Department’s revised Estimates for 2014, the current resource constraints do not allow us to have resident representation in all of the locations that might objectively justify it having regard to political, economic and trade factors. The Government is conscious of the political, economic and trade factors that might warrant the opening of resident diplomatic missions in Iran and several other countries. We are conscious also that the change of government in Iran and the subsequent interim agreement on the nuclear issue hold out some promise for a general improvement in Iran’s international relations. The recent visit of a delegation to Tehran by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, in which the Deputy took part, was a recognition and encouragement of that trend.

As the Deputy will probably be aware from her recent visit, my Department appointed an Honorary Consul of Ireland in Tehran in June 2012. Honorary consuls receive an honorarium of €1,125 per annum and are allowed to retain half of the consular fees they collect for the services they provide such as visa or passport applications and the authentication of documents. The costs of providing an honorary consular service are obviously considerably lower than operating a resident diplomatic mission. However, honorary consular representation is of a fundamentally different nature from diplomatic representation and I do not consider it to be a substitute for a resident diplomatic presence.

See this speech in context