Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

As we stated on Second Stage, this Bill is primarily a technical one to limit the mandate of the Government in extending its role beyond that agreed at the Vienna Convention discussions, as referred to in the Bill. Given that the convention, upon which this section of the legislation is based, effectively reiterated the entire architecture of diplomacy and relations between states, I would be grateful if the Minister of State should explain recent decisions by his Department to change the status of a number of our representatives, specifically in the African countries. It was asked on Second Stage why the current Irish representative in Zambia, for example, retained the title of "chargé d'affaires" as distinct from "ambassador". Similar circumstances obtain in other African countries.

I commend the Minister of State on having acted very quickly in response to the Seanad debate. One would like to believe that he acted as a result of that debate. Perhaps he will outline for us the changes that have been effected in the countries in question.