Brendan Ryan (Dublin North, Labour)
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1187. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his plans to open an embassy or mission in Algeria, North Africa in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33464/14]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Any decision to adjust the State’s external representation is made by the Government based on national priorities, including our political, economic and trade priorities and the needs of Irish communities abroad. The availability of resources is also an important factor in any decision. The Government has this year approved an expansion of the network to provide for eight small-scale new missions in locations across Europe, South East Asia, Africa and the Americas. The current expansion of the network takes account of the Review of the Government’s Trade, Tourism and Investment Strategy. Algeria was not identified as a priority market in that Review and, taken together with the other criteria, the Government did not consider that there was justification at this time to establish a resident diplomatic presence there, given the many competing priorities and limited resources available. The scale and deployment of our diplomatic network is kept under ongoing review and the question of opening a resident diplomatic mission in Algeria will continue to be considered in that context.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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1188. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will assist in obtaining medical records from a Spanish hospital in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33467/14]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The Embassy of Ireland in Madrid and the Honorary Consulate in Malaga provided consular assistance to the family of the named individual in the days following his death. The person named by the Deputy died on 14 April 2014 and his remains were repatriated to Ireland on 17 April. A consular official at our Embassy has spoken to the hospital where the person died and has been provided with information about the procedure to request his medical records. This information has been passed to his wife. Our Embassy will assist with the process by sending the hospital a covering letter with the request.