Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is a very easy answer to that one. Irish citizens want to know what is going on and they want to know what Global Ireland is all about. We are going to commit substantial public resources to expanding our diplomatic network of consulates and embassies. We will commit substantially more resources to our development aid programme in Africa and across the Middle East. The public has a right to know about foreign policy as well as domestic policy, but I am not sure it has received the coverage it should given the global nature of what it is to be Irish. Many Irish people see themselves as global citizens having spent a lot of their working lives abroad.

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