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THE COMBINED SAVINGS generated by the recent closure of three embassies by the Irish State amounts to an estimated €1,175 million annually, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
In a statement today, the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs Joe Costello, said that the “lion’s share” of the savings – €845,000 – comes from closing the Vatican Embassy.
In reference to the decision to close the Embassy of the Holy See, Costello said that the move would not be reversed “in the immediate term.” As well as citing the financial motivations behind the decision, Costello pointed out that the Vatican’s embassy had not been involved in the normal services such as consular services, such as trade promotion or development aid.
Costello said that the decision to close certain mission followed “a comprehensive review of the Diplomatic network in which particular weight was given to the economic return from Missions in these difficult economic times and the Missions role in rebuilding Ireland’s reputation abroad”.
The Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs has been appointed as a non-resident Ambassador, a move that has been accepted by the Vatican, and he will present his credentials on the 4 of May.
Currently, seven other EU member states – Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg and Malta – have non-resident Ambassadors to the Holy See.
In July of last year, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade made a submission to the Comprehensive Spending Review, which identified the Embassies of the Holy See and Timor Leste for closure. During the autumn, a third Embassy in Iran was added to the list, he said.
Costello said that the decision to close the resident Embassy to the Holy See would not be reversed in the immediate term – but added that “as the economic situation improves, and in the context of the regular review or our diplomatic network, it may be possible to revisit the matter at some time in the future.”
On the issue of co-location of Missions to Italy and the Holy See, Costello said:
For what I understand are historical reasons, the Holy See does not accept accreditation from a resident Embassy that is also accredited to Italy. It will not accept the appointment of the same person as resident Ambassador to both States. Neither will it agree to a country operating its Embassy to the Holy See from the same address as its resident Embassy to Italy.
This issue of operating our Embassies to Italy and to the Holy See from the same premises has been raised with the Holy See and will be explored further.
However, he added that if the Holy See were “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, that is something which could be taken into account in any future considerations.”
Earlier today, the Tuam branch of the Labour party asked delegates to consider pushing for the reopening of the Vatican embassy.
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In order to have a successful democracy, it is required that we know what the government is doing in our name.
Is that so complicated?
On the face of it no, but in instances where national security could potentially be involved/compromised then yes, it does become complicated.
So maybe we should give up “democracy” world as it’s confusing with real democracies like Athenian Democracy and call our system Nationalism.
Illegal acts committed under the veil of national security–how do you deal with that situation? That is the primary question. Under “national security, the state can, will and has done anything it chooses, illegal acts including murder, torture and violations of the constitutional protections that the state claims are afforded all citizens.
Your critique of “bad whistleblowers” pertains to the degree to which the journalist has to do their job more than if working on information from “good whistleblowers”, so I don’t consider that a valid critique but a slightly bizarre perspective for you to choose; do you want the guy to type the article for you too?
Given the career ending, financially devasting, legally threatening vilification that a whistleblower exposes themselves to, I’m struggling to think of an example where someone has been found to do it for the purposes of getting attention or malice. The whistleblower gets as good as no protection. That a Garda feels he has to refer to go from within his own Estate to another administrative estate is something that does need review however. I would not presume it tells us that the Garda was malicious or attention seeking however.
Regarding morality, the clichéd maxim rings true; had more whistleblowers prior to the banking crisis told the truth in the knowledge that they would be protected in doing so, my children wouldn’t be paying for the vast corruption and criminal mismanagement that went on.
Well said. This columnist appears to be attempting to smear anyone with the courage to oppose injustice, by casting aspertions as to the genuiness of their motives. Attention seeking could also be the primary motivation of some journalists.
Not really mate. State pensions cant be touched or withdrawn. Both whistle blowers are entitled to the exact same pay and pension regardless.
I think the article is excellent piece. Well done. Good read
The failure of Journalism in Ireland and its refusal to expose corruption in circles of power in Ireland has played a large part in the failing of this state.
Look at your colleagues and editors first Damien.
Very true. It should also be remembered that many US politicians, among others, called for the death penalty of Bradley/Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange and Edward Snowden, some even went so far as to say they should just be executed by special forces. It seems somewhat hypocritical to me that a nation should have legislation to protect Whistleblowers yet when some come forward to reveal some of the most breathtaking abuses of Nation’s Authority there’s a doubt that they may be traitors.
In this country there can be very few agencies with power and authority that have not been shown to abuse that or at the very least have questions raised. Rather than protect whistle blowers our companies will often have contracts than make it explicitly clear they will be pursue any whistle blowers legally.
If you see or know of illegal activity in your workplace, would you reveal it, to whom? Would you seriously believe you’d be protected and hold onto your job? Not a chance. When those gardai came forward Martin Callinan was like spoiled child, running around trying to ensure we wouldn’t hear what they had to say and discrediting them before they even spoke. And we’re supposed to trust this man?
Callinan’s reaction was exactly like a bishop in Ireland confronted with an allegation of his priests and child abuse. Omertà!
Maybe these men are saints, maybe sinners. Maybe there is an agenda.
If they want to expose wrong doings in the Guards or in wider society then I welcome it.
Their motivations pure or otherwise are for them to ponder on.
We as a society benefit from whistleblowers and desperately need to encourage it.
Garda Commissioner visibly upset! You are having a laugh. This is the Garda Commissioner that last spring, told the Garda Association that every reported crime is investigated-untrue and then spoke of the determination of the Gardai to always get to the truth (after the publication of the Smithwick Report) – not true. Same Commissioner that is providing a protective shield to white collar criminal gangs that steal in excess of €4b per year from Irish consumers through criminal price fixing & market sharing cartels.
Can you clarify the white collar criminal gangs please, genuinely not sure, do you mean bankers?
The pharmaceutical wholesalers/pharmacists/hse for one.
They are saints, why else would they put themselves in such a difficult position, except to oppose the injustice and corruption that is rampant in this country. Whistleblowers’, should be put in charge of the country. Louise O’Keeffe would make an excellent Minister for Education because by now, she probably knows everything there is to know about the corrupt establishment management, and is the only person likely to do something about it. Whistleblowers could put right the many wrongs in this country. If the people want to express their gratitude to these honourable people they should nominate them for election and form a proper management team to put the country right again.
The more whistleblowers the better, we face a bunch of lying toads in government so what other way will we find out the truth about these scoundrels
As for the “Whistleblower Protection Act” in the USA, clearly it doesn’t apply to anyone who blows a significant whistle. Case in point being the fellow in Russia now. “He’s not a whistleblower” Obama said. “He could have worked within the system.” And the fact is, he did just that, but was told to turn a blind eye to illegalities.
And that being said, precious little “protection” is available anyway. You will still be attacked by your employers, still face vendettas. Oh, you might be able to sue for damages, but you’ll be years collecting a penny and black-balled from working in most industries.
So to blow the whistle is to entertain the economic death penalty, protection or not.
You will find very few saints in Irish media, journalist stoked the flames of the Celtic tiger promoting Bertie and the FF team. Bad news sell newspapers, knocking a person who stands up against the abuse of power and position that is happening in this country is a cheap shot that I am sure every whistleblower excepts from vested interests. Good and bad depends if you were involved in the whitewash of corruption or you are the idiot left paying for it. The Garda Commissioner is more worried about other gardai coming forward with evidence than the truth. In my view whistleblower are not saints, they emigrated like everyone else, I call them hero’s and it is a sad country that needs them to risk their own futures and that of their family. Comparing Ireland with America is laughable we are to busy fighting ourselves to bother with anyone else.
The whistleblower at the UEA/CRU did a great service to science by exposing the damning emails sent between various ‘scientists’ and the BBC, journal editors and to fellow scientists whom they deemed to be heretics. This whistleblower released just as few emails to start with as a warning or caution to those who were misbehaving [this was known as Climategate] but the warning was scoffed at leading to the release of the entire file of which 250000 emails are still encrypted. This was an example of a whistleblower acting for the common good who gave the miscreants every chance to mend their ways before releasing all the evidence of corruption. There were 7 whitewashes conducted but there has been a noticeable improvement in behaviour of the academics involved since.
I posted this as maybe we have some people who are reluctant to act as whistleblowers but who may be in a position where they can throw out a hint and maybe get results in a quiet and organised fashion?
So is the Guarda whistleblpwer a gpod or a bad one?
There are two of them. I expect Callinan will have done his level best to ruin their reputations before his resignation.
Was Callinan not trying to cover up the level of ‘fixing’ that goes on? The Minister colluded until he was forced to order an investigation, saying the PAC was at fault.
Whistleblowing is critical, especially in a culture like Ireland’s where the first reaction is to get things fixed, or fiddled.
Regarding your remarks on Assange, you might want to read the affidavit regarding the women’s statements on the charges http://wikileaks.org/IMG/html/Affidavit_of_Julian_Assange.html#efmNojN05
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