Vol. 191 No. 1
asked the Minister for External Affairs what staff there is at present at the Irish Embassy at the Hague; whether he is satisfied that this staff is able to cope with the amount of work to be done; and, if not, what steps his Department are taking to improve the situation.
10.
asked the Minister for External Affairs what Irish embassies, legations and consulates he regards as being understaffed; and whether he will give the reasons for such understaffing.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle I propose to take Questions 9 and 10 together.
In the case of most of our embassies and legations, including that at the Hague, the staff consists of a Head of Mission, a diplomatic Secretary, one or two clerk-stenographers and a messenger.
Considerations of economy render it necessary to keep official staffs to the minimum, consistent with their discharging their essential functions.
The existing staffs of the offices abroad are in my view adequate generally for the performance of those functions but we propose to appoint an additional officer in both Brussels and Rome to deal with an increased volume of work of an economic nature.
