Gay Mitchell
Question:8 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the role his Department has had in promoting Ireland abroad, particularly in relation to the visit of the Tour de France to Ireland. [16464/98]
Other Questions. - Tourism Promotion.
As regards the Department's promotional role, the SMI Strategy Statement of the Department of Foreign Affairs for the period from 1998 to 2000 states that its task is "to promote and protect the interests of Ireland and its citizens abroad and to pursue peace, partnership and reconciliation on the island of Ireland".
As the mission statement makes clear, the Department has an important responsibility for the promotion of Ireland internationally, and this is a matter of the utmost priority for the Department and its missions abroad. This overseas promotional role influences every aspect of the Department's work. My official visits abroad have a significant promotional dimension. For example, the first overseas visit I made as Minister for Foreign Affairs in October last was to Madrid for the opening of an ‘lreland House' there. This brings the embassy and the various State agencies together under one roof with a view to optimising Ireland's impact in Spain.
Diplomatic and consular missions are devoted to the overall pursuit of Ireland's interests abroad. They work with others in the public and private sectors to expand trade and tourism and to attract inward investment to Ireland. Embassies and consulates strive to enhance Ireland's profile in their host countries, for example, through information work and media briefings. Recent examples include our embassies' active involvement in promoting the British-Irish Agreement and the Government's recent nuclear disarmament initiative, which contributed to enhancing our image internationally.
In respect of the second part of the Deputy's question, the Tour de France in Ireland comes within the responsibility of the Department of Tourism, Sport and Recreation. However, the Irish Embassy in Paris has been very active in promoting the Irish aspects of the Tour de France 1998 in co-operation with Bord Fáilte, the Department of Tourism, Sport and Recreation, the organising company for the Irish portion of the tour and other State agencies. The embassy's involvement has taken the form of hosting, and participating in, promotional events and providing briefing for the media. The embassy was involved in the following events: 4 April 1997, the announcement of Irish stages of the tour by the Minister for Tourism and Trade at a lunch hosted by the Ambassador in Paris, Mr. Patrick O'Connor, at the embassy. There were 70 guests, including journalists; 4 and 5 July 1997, the Ambassador in Paris participated in the prologue and opening events at Rouen of the Tour de France in 1997 to promote the Irish opening in 1998; 27 July, dinner at the embassy in Paris hosted by our Ambassador in honour of the Minster for Tourism, Sport and Recreation, to mark the conclusion of the Tour de France 1997 and to promote the Irish aspect of Tour 1998. Sixty people attended including journalists; 23 October 1997, Ambassador and embassy officials involved with Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation, Bord Fáilte and Bord Bia in launch of Tour de France 1998 at the Palais de Congre s, Paris; 6 November 1997, Ambassador O'Connor hosted Bord Fáilte's presentation of its 1998 holiday programme to the French travel trade, with an emphasis on the Tour de France and the Year of Sport in Ireland. It was attended by 80 members of the French travel trade; 2 March 1998, lunch at embassy hosted by the Ambassador for key personalities involved in the Tour, including the director general of the Tour de France, Monsieur Jean-Marie Leblanc.
In addition to the above specific events, the embassy is involved in an ongoing basis in briefing journalists and others, and in the promotion of the tour in co-operation with the organisers and State agencies.
Does the Minister agree Ireland has suffered greatly over the years because of the violence in Northern Ireland which constantly sent out the vibe internationally that somehow this was an unattractive location to visit or in which to invest? Every time a bomb went off in Northern Ireland a picture of Ireland went up on the television screen and people who did not know the scene here got this bad message. One way of counteracting that is to ensure that major social, political and cultural events are held here and reported on from here so that the international community can see Ireland for what it really is.
When I was Lord Mayor of Dublin I set up the Dublin international sports council with a view to bringing major sporting events here. Mr. Pat McQuaid and I sought the Tour de France as one of those events. Does the Minister see a role for our embassies in pursuing that objective and, in particular, in trying to bring events like the European and World Athletic Championships here? People say we will never be able to host them, but would the Minister agree that cities like Gothenburg, which is half the size of Dublin, have put on these events because every organisation in Sweden, including Government Departments, is organised to seek such events and bring them to Sweden.
We seem to think it is a good idea to send representatives off on trips abroad, which I have no particular objection to, provided they bring something back. Does the Minister see a role for the Department of Foreign Affairs in seeking to secure these major events for Ireland because it helps to counter the 30 years of negative advertising we have had?
Yes. I see an enormous role in the Department of Foreign Affairs for bringing about what the Deputy seeks. However, in fairness, this country is not barren of conferences of one sort or another across a broad spectrum, for example, medical and agricultural conferences. The Deputy will agree that at this very moment it is difficult to get a bedroom in a Dublin city or county hotel or other hotels in the main cities.
The Northern Ireland problem impinged on the image of this jurisdiction in the sense that people looking at the North did not realise the difference between North and South and, consequently, we suffered. However, all is now well on that front. As far as the Department of Foreign Affairs is concerned if a request comes to bring a sporting event to Ireland the door is always open. There is enormous co-operation, as I have just indicated, in relation to the Tour de France and the central part played by the Irish embassy in Paris.
The Deputy will remember, in his time as a Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, the enormous success and key role played by the Department of Foreign Affairs in the Imaginaire Irlandais exhibition in 1996 which was a huge success and raised Ireland's profile not only in France but on the Continent generally. I take the Deputy's point. It is certainly something we will continue to pursue
This afternoon I attended a jobs launch initiative announced by the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, involving a Turkish company and a quality ceramics company in Arklow. In the course of her speech, the Tánaiste mentioned that she always encourages our diplomats to involve themselves in trying to extend business links and encourage companies to come here.
I do not propose to question the magnificent contribution the Department of Foreign Affairs and its officials have made over the years. Will the Minister agree, however, that at a time when global has become local, there might be a role for former politicians or high profile sporting personalities to take up the role of ambassadors in some countries? I am not purporting to find a role for him, but I am thinking of the former Taoiseach, Deputy Albert Reynolds, who has said he will stand down at the next general election. Would the Minister agree that Deputy Reynolds would make a fine ambassador to the United States?
I do not want to cause a revolution in the Department of Foreign Affairs, which is what might well happen if I proposed that. I think I might find myself being ducked in the pond in St. Stephen's Green.
Ducked in the Green?
The question of career diplomats arose in the past and it has never been pursued. On balance, I do not see a future for it. We have very highly trained and motivated people in the Department of Foreign Affairs who, when they are asked to take on a job as ambassador on behalf of the country, do it extremely well.
The question of the economic drive and trade continues to be addressed in the Department of Foreign Affairs. Only today I raised the status of consulates in America in the very context which Deputy Mitchell raised — developing economic links and trade with the areas these consulates operate in. Some of them on the west coast of America, for example, preside over part of America which is even bigger than some of the countries which have diplomatic representatives to Ireland. That is the reason I upgraded their status. In anticipation of that, those people who will be appointed to those consulates will be given training with ABP, Bord Bia and Bord Fáilte before they take up their functions and duties as managers, chief executive officers or diplomats.