Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, for taking this issue on behalf of the Department of Foreign Affairs. I am conscious she is busy today taking a lot of issues for other Departments. I have enormous respect for all officials within the Department of Foreign Affairs for the work they do and our ambassadors. My question is about how we appoint our ambassadors. At present, the recruitment of ambassadors is essentially through the ranks of the Department of Foreign Affairs. It is very rare for somebody who has not come up through the ranks and served as a long-standing official in the Department of Foreign Affairs to be appointed and when it happens, it is normally somebody from another Department such as our new ambassador to London. In the old trade union days, that would have been referred to as a closed shop.

The Department will make the argument that there are some open competitions at lower levels within the Department but there should be an open competitive process when it comes to these very senior appointments. The role of the ambassadors, as with others in the Department of Foreign Affairs, is to represent Ireland and promote and protect the interests and values of the State and our citizens. Yes, people coming through the Department of Foreign Affairs can do that but so too could people with business or academic experience, contributions through charity and voluntary organisations and indeed through political life. I am not arguing that it should be a decision of the Minister to name whoever he or she may want. I believe it should be an open competition. This was introduced for a number of posts in the UK. It also happens in other jurisdictions. The individual must show that he or she is competent and can carry out the functions of representing his or her country as an ambassador but I do not accept the argument that only people from the Department of Foreign Affairs are capable of being the representatives of our country abroad.

I need to be clear that I am not suggesting in any way that they should be political appointments as we see in the US, where about half of its ambassadors are appointed by the US President. Interestingly, under Article 2 of the US Constitution, all US ambassadors must be ratified by the Senate so the question of ambassadors coming before an Oireachtas committee or even a Seanad committee to present their credentials and outline how they would represent Ireland before they are appointed to represent the country might be something we could look at in terms of Seanad reform. The point I am making is that there are a lot of people who in many ways already represent Ireland very effectively in the arts and other areas and who may have the requisite skills to represent us.

I also think it would be very good for the Department of Foreign Affairs to broaden the pool to ensure there is diversity within the Department at ambassadorial rank and that it is infused with different ideas and views at a senior level. I know the Department's argument is that we do that at the lower levels of the Department but then people are sucked into the culture and in order to progress, they must move up the ladder.I sincerely believe it is time for reform and I hope the Minister of State will agree with me.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senator Byrne for raising this matter. The mission of the Department of Foreign Affairs is to serve the Irish people, promote their values, advance their prosperity and interests abroad, and provide the Government with the capabilities, analysis and influence to ensure Ireland derives the maximum benefit from all areas of its external engagement. To fulfil that mission, the Department is staffed with a team of dedicated civil servants who promote Ireland's values and interests, working from 97 embassies, consulates and representative offices across the globe as well as at the Department's headquarters in Ireland. The Senator's question is very timely as our ambassadors have been very much to the fore in the past week for the St. Patrick's Day celebrations and engagements throughout the world. They do an excellent job.

Decisions on the appointment of ambassadors of Ireland are taken by Government on foot of proposals made by the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Ambassadors are then appointed by the President and take up duty abroad following the receipt of agreement from the receiving state. When considering the recommendations for the appointment of ambassadors, the Minister takes into account a wide range of factors, including political, economic and trade priorities for the post in question. In addition, applicants' management experience, regional knowledge, country knowledge, relevant language skills, policy experience, consular experience and other factors are taken into account as part of the process. The Minister also takes gender balance into account in the nomination of ambassadors. For example, the latest appointments to heads of mission posts consisted of 11 men and 11 women, bringing the gender breakdown of heads of mission serving overseas to 37 women and 59 men.

As the Senator will be aware, Ireland has a long and proud tradition of a non-political Civil Service and the individuals nominated as ambassadors are drawn from that service. I note the Senator was very clear that he was not suggesting these would be political appointments. Since the foundation of the State, Ireland has regularly demonstrated its capacity to exert influence and make a distinctive contribution on the international stage. Civil servants and those appointed as ambassadors have played a crucial role in these efforts. All currently serving ambassadors are established career civil servants employed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and recruited through the Public Appointments Service, PAS, or competitions administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs in accordance with the code of practice for appointment to positions in the Civil Service and public service, as set out by the Office of the Commission for Public Service Appointments. Open recruitment competitions are held to join the diplomatic service at third secretary, first secretary and counsellor level.

Officers recruited to join the diplomatic service are tested on key competency areas relevant to the grade during the recruitment process. Resilience, resourcefulness and a commitment to foreign language learning are among the requirements. The Department also works closely with the PAS to build diversity in the Department of Foreign Affairs and ensure it is representative of the people it represents.

I thank the Senator again for his question and would, of course, welcome his support and that of all Members in encouraging applications to open recruitment competitions to join the diplomatic service.

Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State. I certainly would encourage anyone to serve in a public service capacity. I note that the reply from the Department of Foreign Affairs avoids the question I asked. It does, however, make a very clear point in stating that when the Minister is considering an appointment, he will look at applicants' "management experience, regional knowledge, country knowledge ... language skills, policy experience" and so on. However, he only looks at those factors among a very limited pool of individuals, namely, people from within his Department. The argument I am making is there is very rich talent in this country. We have people from a vast range of different backgrounds who may have been able to gather that experience in other fields. They should be able to compete openly to enter public service at ambassadorial level. It would serve any Minister very well for such people to have that opportunity. To ensure greater diversity within our public service and to ensure it is no longer a closed shop, competition should be open for positions for ambassadors representing our country and all of its citizens.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Senator's interest in this topic. To ensure that our diplomatic team is of the highest quality and representative of the people of Ireland, the Department works closely with the PAS to ensure a robust and fair recruitment process for diplomatic grades. In the last year, the PAS has administered open competitions to the grades of counsellor, first secretary and third secretary. Further recruitment to the diplomatic service is expected later this year. All competitions are advertised on the PAS website and via social media. Officers who have been recruited through the open recruitment competition represent Ireland abroad including as ambassadors.

I accept the Senator's point that we should look at having greater diversity. Knowing how tenacious he is, I have no doubt that this will not be the last time we will hear this issue being raised in the Seanad.

Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail)
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Senator Malcolm Byrne also has my support on the matter.