Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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12. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade when he last spoke formally with the New Zealand Ambassador to Ireland. [39032/24]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I last formally met with Ambassador Mallard of New Zealand on 27 June 2023 though I have also met informally with the Ambassador at a number of other events and engagements. The Department of Foreign Affairs works closely with the Embassy of New Zealand in Ireland on the full range of bilateral issues, including strengthening our political and economic relationships and promoting cultural ties and people-to-people connections between Ireland and New Zealand

I am kept fully informed of the New Zealand Ambassador's and Embassy's activities by my officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs who are in regular communication with the Ambassador and his team on a wide range of issues related to Ireland's engagement in and with New Zealand, and including the work of our own Ambassador and Embassy in New Zealand.

My Department also held consultations at senior official level with New Zealand in May of this year on which I was subsequently fully briefed. These consultations took place in line with the overall commitment, set out in the Government's Asia Pacific Strategy, to strengthen Ireland’s relations with New Zealand, building on already close political, economic and people-to-people ties.