New Irish embassies
Tony McLoughlin asked whether Ireland should expand its diplomatic footprint further and consider an embassy in Georgia. The Foreign Affairs Minister listed recent and planned embassy and office openings and said the Government had been expanding Ireland's global presence significantly.
Is the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade considering expanding its diplomatic footprint even further next year by increasing the number of Irish embassies throughout the world? Will Georgia be considered as an ideal location for a new Irish embassy? We should consider its strategic importance in the region, its strong values and support towards the EU and its geographical location as a gateway between the EU and Asia.
Comment on this
That is right. Normally you give out to Deputies for raising local issues, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. Certainly, this could not be put in that category.
We have been doing an extraordinary amount to expand Ireland's global footprint in the past 18 months or so. We have opened new embassies in Wellington, Santiago, Bogotá and Amman in Jordan. We have opened new representative offices in Vancouver, Frankfurt, Cardiff, Los Angeles and Mumbai. Next year we will be opening an embassy in Rabat in Morocco and in Kiev in Ukraine. We will be opening a new representative office in Florida and probably a second office in the UK in northern England.
We are currently assessing where the next phase will go in the second half of next year and into 2021 so that we complete the ambition of the Global Ireland plan. The plan is due to end in 2025. Certainly, I will take on board the views of Deputy McLoughlin on Georgia. It is certainly a country Ireland is building closer relationships with all the time.