Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 193: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the location of Irish embassies and consulates; the number of staff employed to promote trade; and the cost associated with each embassy and consulate. [20336/12]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Ireland has 56 Embassies, 7 multilateral missions and 10 Consulates General and other offices overseas. In addition to their country of primary accreditation, many Ambassadors are also accredited to additional countries on a non-resident basis. Ireland's missions abroad perform a wide range of functions in pursuit of Ireland's foreign policy interests. These include representing and advancing Government policies with other States and in international organisations, in particular the EU and the UN; economic and cultural promotion; frontline consular and passport services to Irish citizens overseas; engaging with Irish communities and harnessing the resource they offer in assisting economic recovery; and programme management, particularly in Irish Aid priority countries. It will be noted, for example, that missions to international organisations have no direct trade promotional function.

The promotion of Irish trade and exports is a key priority for my Department. However, given the multi-faceted nature of the work of staff at Embassies abroad, especially in Missions with small staffing numbers, it is not feasible to provide a breakdown of staff employed to promote trade.

My Department runs a dedicated intranet site which keeps all missions up to date on economic developments and Ireland's strengths as an investment location, a tourist destination and a trading partner. Training on trade and economic issues is provided for all officers before they travel overseas to ensure our network have the capacity to deal with trade opportunities as they arise. Other initiatives include regular video conference briefings to the Embassy network from State Agencies on their trading priorities and the recent training provided to 17 Embassy staff and Honorary Consuls as part of the implementation of my Department's Africa Strategy.

The Embassy network works very closely with the State Agencies which have a remit for the promotion of Irish trade, tourism and inward investment - Enterprise Ireland, Bord Bia, Tourism Ireland and IDA Ireland - and other relevant Departments in assisting Irish producers to find and access new markets.

Where possible, overseas offices of State Agencies are co-located with Irish Embassies and Consulates on the ground in an 'Ireland House' arrangement. This increases the impact of Ireland's presence abroad, improves coordination between parties and maximises cost-efficiencies. The arrangement works well in a number of locations, but even where the physical co-location is not practicable, the Embassy network co-ordinates with the State Agencies and other relevant Departments in assisting Irish producers to overcome barriers to exporting and establish themselves in new markets.

Below is a table listing the administrative costs for operating each of the overseas Missions in 2011. The figures do not include the salaries of the Irish based staff as these are a charge on the overall salaries budget of the Department rather than on a specific Mission. In addition, the budgets of missions that manage significant programmes on behalf of Irish Aid (Vote 29) reflect the additional management and oversight required for the effective implementation of those important programmes.