Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I would be grateful if the Leader would bring the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to the House to outline the Government's current foreign policy objectives and, in particular, to explain the thinking behind the decision to close Ireland's embassy in the Holy See. I do not know if the Minister plays tennis, but I think this one will go down as an unforced error. At a time when our economic and political sovereignty is very circumscribed, the last thing we should be doing is closing our embassies.

Given the relatively low cost of maintaining our embassy in the Holy See, it beggars belief that it is being closed. It is important to remember that for Catholics and non-Catholics alike, the Holy See remains an important centre in international diplomacy. One need only think of the stands that were taken on the Iraq war, the campaign to ban landmines and the recent NATO intervention in Libya.

I am open to correction when I say that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has access to approximately 40 permanent diplomatic missions and that some 80 missions are accredited to the Holy See. When one closes an embassy and becomes a non-resident, one closes off one's access to the state in question, to some degree, one's access to the other ambassadors and missions that are accredited to that state and one's access to third countries. This is a very foolish thing for Ireland to be doing. I have not even begun to address the needless hurt it has caused to many Catholics in this country. I wonder how the message that the Government has gone hostile on the church will play in certain sections of Irish America.

Irish people can see the wood from the trees. They can have their views and they are right to have them. There have been many controversies in recent times. Hard things have been said and needed to be said. That is different from breaking off long-established ties that have been of great value to this country. I have mentioned that Ireland and the Holy See walked the same road during the campaign on landmines and the jubilee campaign, which sought the abolition of debt in advance of the millennium.

This a very short-sighted decision. I ask for it to be revisited. The Minister has claimed that this is being done for economic reasons. He should specify to this House the economic circumstances in which it would be proposed to re-open the embassy. I look forward to an early engagement between this House and the Minister.