Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It was a welcome visit by the Croatian President. She knows Ireland well from her time as her country's Foreign Minister. Ireland was a consistent and strong supporter of Croatian membership of the European Union. One of the striking things about her visit was how much it reinforced the imbalance in many of our diplomatic relations. Croatia has three permanent diplomats assigned to Dublin. In contrast, we have one assigned to Zagreb. Negotiations on Brexit have so far focused overwhelmingly on a handful of governments and Brussels. We have contact with all governments but, as I have said to the Taoiseach on numerous occasions, we do not have enough personnel on the ground to go much further than general engagement. An overwhelming lesson we must learn from Brexit is that we must build broader and deeper coalitions with the European Union and its member states. We do not have the personnel to do so. For the past year I have been asking the Taoiseach for a statement concerning staffing and other resources we will put in place for post-Brexit arrangements. We cannot wait two years for this because of recruitment timescales. In view of the changes due to Brexit, we need to increase our personnel levels in the European Union, particularly in places where we have one-person stations. The Taoiseach said to me in the past that a staffing assessment would be prepared. Has this been done? Is the Taoiseach satisfied that we have enough personnel in place to fully represent Ireland on all of these issues?

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