Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 86: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs when he was informed that the Swedish Embassy is due for closure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7072/10]

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Question 103: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs his views on the recent decision by the Swedish Government to shut its embassy in Dublin. [7149/10]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 86 and 103 together.

On 21 January, the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the Swedish Government had decided to close a number of Embassies, including its Embassy in Dublin.

The Irish Government very much regrets this decision, and I made this clear to my Swedish counterpart, Mr. Carl Bildt, when he telephoned me to communicate the decision on the evening before the official announcement was made.

Ireland and Sweden share a wide common agenda, through our EU membership and through our very similar outlook on foreign, security, disarmament and development issues, as well as serving together on a number of UN peace keeping missions. That was exemplified most recently in particularly effective communication and cooperation during the recent Swedish Presidency of the EU Council. Against the background of the increased pace and scope of EU integration it is our view that the conduit provided by bilateral Embassies has particular value. We intend to use all available channels, including our Embassy in Stockholm, to pursue our cooperation in these priority areas. In 2007, the latest year for which figures are available, exports of Irish goods and services to Sweden were worth over €2bn, more than twice the value of imports from Sweden. Over a dozen Swedish companies have operations in Ireland employing about 2,000 people. Some 83,000 tourists visited from Sweden during 2008.

Ireland makes its own decisions on where we locate embassies on the basis of an assessment of what best serves the interests of the State and our people. Our view is that, given the extent to which decisions taken by the EU increasingly impact on Ireland and the daily lives of our people, it is in our interest to maintain a resident Ambassador in EU capitals to promote and pursue our policy interests directly with the governments and the parliaments of our EU partners. Our Embassy in Stockholm, which was established in 1946, is a very valuable component of our network.