Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 321: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of press officers that are employed in his Department, employed in each agency reporting to his Department, were employed in his Department in 2002 and were employed in each agency reporting to his Department in 2002; and if he will provide the information in tabular readable form. [32366/07]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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There is one press officer in the press office of the Department, together with a Press Adviser, whom I appointed in 2004. The position in 2002 was that there were two press officers in the press office. In a number of our larger Missions abroad (for instance, London, the EU Permanent Representation Brussels and Washington), designated diplomatic officers carry out press-related duties.

Within the Department's Development Cooperation Directorate, which manages the Irish Aid Programme, there is one official and one person in a contract position working on public information. In 2002, Irish Aid had one official working in the public information area.

There are no Agencies operating under the aegis of the Department of Foreign Affairs.