Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 February 2012
60Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the estimated yearly savings of the closure of the embassy to the Holy See; if he will reconsider the closure of the Vatican embassy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9853/12]
View answerThe decision to close Ireland's resident embassy to the Holy See was taken by the Government in response to budgetary pressures and on the recommendation of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade which sought to assess where budget cuts would impact least on the national interest at this time of economic crisis. The total cost saving in a full year from the closure is estimated at €845,000, of which €400,000 will come from the closure of the resident embassy to the Holy See. An additional €445,000 in savings will come from the transfer of Ireland's embassy to Italy from its previous rented premises to the State-owned Villa Spada. In the meantime the Holy See has accepted the Government's nomination of the Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Mr. David Cooney, as ambassador on a non-resident basis. Mr. Cooney is expected to present his credentials to Pope Benedict XVI in May.
The decision to close the resident embassy to the Holy See will not be reversed in the immediate term. The unavoidable budget cuts and reduction in staff numbers which necessitated the closure are still in effect and my Department has neither the staff nor the financial resources to reverse the mission closures decided on by the Government last November. However, as the economic situation improves and in the context of the regular review of the diplomatic network, it may be possible to revisit the matter some time in the future. If the Vatican is prepared to relax its current requirements so as to allow the State-owned Villa Spada to serve as a location for both our embassy to Italy and our embassy to the Holy See, this can be taken into account in any future considerations.
I thank the Tánaiste for bringing clarity to the financial aspects of the matter. When did the decision to include the Vatican embassy appear on the list? We are in receipt of two pieces of information; one from the Department suggesting it was not on the initial list and one from the Tánaiste suggesting it was. Will the Tánaiste confirm the veracity or otherwise of a report in The Sunday Business Post by Pat Leahy on the Government meeting at which this matter was discussed? It was suggested it had been very much a routine issue on the Cabinet agenda that had been passed over and only returned to later after the decision had been made. Did the Tánaiste, in fact, discuss the proposed closure of the Embassy to the Holy See with the Taoiseach and the Minister of State, Deputy Lucinda Creighton?
The issue of which embassies might be closed in these difficult economic times had been under consideration in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for some time. The Deputy's party leader, my immediate predecessor, acknowledged here recently that while he was Minister, the possible closure of the Embassy to the Holy See had been under consideration. The confusion may have arisen from newspaper reports which referred to a document which had been produced in the context of the comprehensive spending review which referred to the closure of two possible missions, and it was assumed that the two missions in that case did not include the Holy See. In fact, the Holy See was included in those two missions referred to in that document.
With regard to the issue of how the matter was considered by Government, as I stated, the question of what embassies might be closed and how savings might be made have been under consideration in the Department. I brought a memorandum to Government which recommended the closure of three resident missions: Timor-Leste, Tehran and the Holy See. The matter was considered by the Government and it made a decision to close the three missions I had recommended.
I thank the Minister for that information but we do not know a great deal more than we did before I asked the question. Key to this is whether the Minister had discussions in advance of the Cabinet meeting with the Taoiseach on this matter.
After a year working hard in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, is the Minister prepared to take advice from someone who has a quarter of a century of distinguished service in the Department, Mr. Seán Donlon, who raised fundamental questions about the Minister's decision to close this important listening post, an action which, in fact, was contrary to statements that the Minister himself had made by way of written reply to Members of this House some time ago?
Can the Minister brief Members as to whether he is prepared to engage actively via the new non-resident ambassador, Mr. David Cooney, with the Vatican in terms of the possibility of Villa Spada serving as a dual-purpose embassy or being divided so that part of it may deliver the service to the Vatican while the other part could service Rome? That is something that has been put out there into the ether. Is the Minister actively engaged in that?
I put it to the Minister that this is an issue that will not go away. I do not wish to have us returning to this time and time again on Question Time, but it is something that the people are concerned about. It is something that is of fundamental importance in terms of our diplomatic role on the world stage. The Minister is currently campaigning for Ireland to win membership of the human rights committee of the UN and, in that regard, we should have particular cognisance of the role the Vatican has played, and can play, in assisting us. If the Minister reads the interesting letter in The Irish Times today from Mr. Michael Lillis, he can see the role that the Vatican played in informing those who were involved in an initiative in Cuba way back in 1988.
The recommendation, the memorandum to Government and consideration of the issue by Government was done in the normal way. Deputy Ó Feargháil will be quite well aware of the doctrine of Cabinet confidentiality with which we all are obliged to comply. The issue was considered by the Government in the normal way.
As the Minister concerned, I take political responsibility for making the recommendation. The decision has been made and it will not be reversed. I made it clear at the time the decision was announced that when financial circumstances would improve, we could revisit the issue as we will be reviewing our diplomatic missions in any event in the light of improving financial circumstances.
On the issue of the use of Villa Spada and what physical arrangements can be made there, of course, the ambassador and Secretary General of the Department, Mr. David Cooney, will discuss all of those issues with the Vatican authorities.
I welcome always the advice of former diplomats. In one case, we are talking about a former diplomat who resigned from the diplomatic service a quarter of a century ago. There is, I am sure Deputy Ó Feargháil will appreciate, a necessity in any event for us to modernise our diplomacy and the way in which we do our business. The circumstances of today are entirely different from what they were a quarter of a century ago but I value the advice that is given from time to time by former diplomats.
