Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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72. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the Irish Embassies that are scheduled to be refurbished in 2022. [15221/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Ireland currently has 97 diplomatic and consular missions around the world. This includes 14 new missions established under the Government’s Global Ireland strategy, with a further 12 new missions planned to open by the end of 2025.

Global Ireland's strategy envisages the most ambitious expansion of Ireland’s international presence and influence and will strengthen Ireland’s engagement with our global diaspora and service to our citizens.

The upkeep of our 172 official premises overseas, of which 35 are State-owned and 137 are leased, requires constant planning and investment in order to ensure that appropriate standards are maintained for staff and visitors alike.

With this in mind my Department has commenced implementation of its first ever Property Strategy to realise a network of high quality, safe, secure and sustainable workplaces in order to double Ireland’s global impact and influence to 2025 & beyond.

In addition to works listed below due for completion in 2022, preparatory work is underway for a comprehensive refurbishment of Embassy Washington, which is scheduled to be completed by 2026. Preparatory work is also underway to develop Ireland Houses in Shanghai and New York, scheduled for completion in 2023 and 2024 respectively and as part of the Property Strategy the introduction of rolling 5-year surveys across the mission network.