Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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668. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the position regarding progress to reopen the Irish Embassy in Iran in view of the fact that Ireland is the only EU country which does not have an embassy there. [26744/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Ireland is one of six EU Member States that do not currently have resident missions in Iran. Our bilateral relationship with Iran is sustained and promoted on a concurrent basis through the Ireland’s embassy in Ankara. Ireland is also represented in Iran by an Honorary Consul. The configuration and scale of the State’s diplomatic network is kept under ongoing review by the Government. The Government is of course conscious of the political, economic, trade and other factors that might warrant the opening of a resident diplomatic mission in Iran – as in a number of other countries. However, resource constraints do not allow us to have resident representation in all the locations that might objectively justify it having regard to those factors.