Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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171. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on the merits of establishing a trade office or diplomatic office with Taiwan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27402/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Ireland, along with our EU partners, adheres to the One China Policy. This means that we do not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan and that we recognize the People's Republic of China as the legal representative of China. This does not preclude the development of economic, cultural, and people-to-people connections with Taiwan; nor the meaningful participation of Taiwan in relevant multilateral fora.

The European Union is represented in Taiwan by the European Economic and Trade Office, which seeks to strengthen economic and trade relations with Taiwan. There has been a Taipei Representative Office in Dublin since 1988.

The establishment of new offices is always kept under review, but is a resource-intensive process, and is always subject to cost-benefit considerations, including whether existing offices can adequately cover the work. There are also of course a range of policy considerations before such decisions are taken including alignment with Government policy.