The European External Action Service (EEAS) supports the work of the High Representative in defining and implementing an effective and coherent foreign policy of the European Union. It does not have an economic or trade remit. Officers serving in EEAS missions serve overall EU interests and are not permitted to represent the interest of individual Member States, including their own. While Irish officials serving in an EEAS mission can, and frequently do, contribute to the furtherance of good relations between the EU and her/his country of accreditation, thereby helping create a positive climate for trade between EU Member states and that third country, there is no basis for the appointment of an Irish official to an EEAS mission for the specific purpose of promoting Irish trade interests.
Furthermore, while officers from my Department can apply for positions within the EEAS as they become available, and are released on secondment to serve there, recruitment to posts in EU delegations is a matter for the human resource selection processes of the EEAS and is not within the control of my Department. I would also note that our Embassy network continues to be strongly focussed on supporting opportunities for trade, investment and tourism in all their countries of accreditation, including where they are not resident, assisted in many cases by our Honorary Consuls and local Irish business networks and organisations.
These activities include identifying specific export and investment opportunities, helping companies build contact networks, organising trade-focussed visits in coordination with the state agencies, lobbying for market access and addressing regulatory obstacles, helping to negotiate international agreements on tax and in other key sectors, promoting Ireland as a destination for tourism and for study, and presenting clear information to key opinion-formers on Ireland’s strategy for economic recovery.
Although such activity is naturally limited in countries where we do not have resident missions, we are committed to assisting Irish exporters in these markets as far as possible. This was demonstrated most recently over the St Patrick’s Day period, when high-level promotional visits to Indonesia, the Philippines and New Zealand were organised by the Embassies in Singapore and Canberra respectively, in coordination with the state agencies.
