Written answers

Tuesday, 15 July 2025

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Departmental Staff

Photo of Aidan FarrellyAidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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187. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the additional WTE local based staff, by job title, who were hired by the Department for the duration of the Osaka 2025 World Expo. [39127/25]

Photo of Simon HarrisSimon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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World Expos are large-scale international events held every five years. The 2025 World Expo opened in Osaka City, in the Kansai region of Japan, on 13 April. It will run for six months until 13 October and is expected to attract over 28 million visitors. Approximately 160 countries and international organisations are participating.

Participation in Expo provides a unique platform to engage directly with the Japanese public and with visitors from across the region. Expo is a valuable opportunity to increase Ireland's visibility, in line with our Global Ireland Strategy. It also strengthens our existing political and economic links, including on market diversification.

The development of the Irish Pavilion is a strong example of a Team Ireland approach, with active engagement from across Government Departments and State Agencies. The visitor experience has been curated by the National Museum of Ireland and the National Concert Hall has overseen the cultural programme.

The Ireland Pavilion has 34 full-time locally based staff to operate the Pavilion 7-days a week, which is open from 9am to 9pm. The breakdown of job titles is listed below. Each member of staff has specific duties to cater to the range of everyday operational elements, as well as events and engagements that take place at Expo.

  • Pavilion Director x1
  • Operations Director x1
  • Pavilion Manager x4
  • Programme Coordinator x1
  • Staff Manager x1
  • Staff Coordinator x2
  • Pavilion Officer Team Lead x3
  • Pavilion Officer x20
  • Cleaner x1
Since its opening in mid-April, the Ireland Pavilion has been operating at maximum capacity on a daily basis. As a whole-of-government initiative, a visit by the Taoiseach and a number of Ministerial visits and high-level engagements are taking place throughout 2025 to strengthen Ireland's existing political and economic links, including on market diversification. To date, over 10 million visitors have attended Expo already.

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