Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 October 2018
153. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade when each of the new Irish Embassies and Consulate offices announced over the past 12 months will be opened. [39743/18]
View answerIn the context of “Global Ireland” the Department is currently managing the opening of 13 new Irish Embassies and Consulates General. A project team has been appointed to manage the expansion and extensive planning is underway to ensure the initiative makes the most efficient use of the Department’s human and financial resources.
The first phase of the expansion was approved by Government in November 2017 and includes the opening of the new Irish Embassy in Wellington, which opened in August 2018; the opening of the Consulate General in Vancouver, which will officially open at the end of October 2018; the opening of Embassies in Bogotá, Santiago de Chile, and Amman in Q1 2019 and the opening of a Consulate General in Mumbai in Q1 2019. The Department is also in the process of upgrading the Irish Mission in Monrovia to a full Embassy in 2018.
The Global Ireland document sets out a series of commitments, building on these initial investments. Beginning in 2019 we will open new Consulates General in Frankfurt, Los Angeles, and Cardiff, and Embassies in Ukraine, Morocco, and the Philippines within a tight timeframe thereafter.
