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THE GOVERNMENT HAS restated that there are no immediate plans to reconsider the decision to close Ireland’s embassy in the Vatican.
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore announced last November that the Irish embassy in the Vatican would be closed as part of the government’s programme of cuts to its budget with embassies in Iran and East Timor also shuttered.
The decision was criticised by Catholic groups and opposition parties who expressed scepticism as to the reasons behind the closure of the embassy following a cooling of the government’s relationship with the Vatican in the wake of the Cloyne report into clerical sex abuse in a Cork diocese.
Gilmore has said that the closure will save between €845,000 and €1.2m and indicated that the decision will be reviewed when the economy recovers.
This week a number of backbench Fine Gael TDs urged the government to review the decision to close the embassy, endorsing a motion put forward at the parliamentary party meeting for the decision to be reviewed.
However, a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs has restated the government’s position saying there are “no immediate plans to review the decision.”
“It was a government decision to close the embassy and the Tánaiste hopes when economic conditions are better this can change,” he added.
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It’s a pity that these back benches weren’t as vocal when the papal nuncio refused to answer the tribunals questions
Shut it save the money and have the ambassador for Italy do for the Vatican as well.
Why does Ireland need a Vatican and an Italian embassy? Surely that is doubling up? I doubt the taxi fares between the two would be more than the cost of the Vatican operation.
We don’t and that is why the government has taken the sensible decision to move the embassy to Italy to the house they used to use for the Vatican embassy. The Vatican don’t like it, but tough!
The Vatican is independent. It doesn’t deal with the Irish embassy in Rome. That’d be like the US dealing with the Irish embassy in Mexico. Apparently…
It should never be re opened!! Why do we need an embassy to a cult who’s only purpose is to prey on people’s fear of death by creating a fairy tale story and then extorting money out of them. Plus not to mention the raping and abuse of children by their clergy and covering it up and refusing to bring peados to justice. Also creating slave labour of women in laundries and to top it all off abduction of babies from women and then illegally trafficking them to different countries for money. How people actively support this cult astonishes me. It should be shut down and all locked up.
But it wasn’t closed because of the state of the economy. I thought this was the reason (from The Guardian):
“Kenny told the Dáil on Wednesday that Rome seemed more interested in upholding the church’s power and reputation than confronting the abuse of Irish children by its priests and religious orders.
The Vatican’s attitude to investigations in Cloyne, which covers County Cork, was the “polar opposite of the radicalism, the humility and the compassion that the church had been founded on”, he said.
So, if the economy improves all that is to be forgotten? Or has it already been.
FG backbenchers…oduffy ghost and blueshirt influence still pervades thus party
Absolutely Colm. And more recently that famous papal knight Oliver J Flanagan and Alice “enemies of the state” Glenn. And it seems that some members of that party are still living in a right-wing religious bubble divorced from reality.
No it shouldn’t,why waste money on what is essentially another cult..people should start believing in the sun or something,it will surely give you more pleasure and at least you can see it & know it exists & doesn’t look for money off ya!! My theory on catholic religion is if there’s a god,why does so much terrible things happen in the world,he sayes if you live by the 10 commandments your soul will enter the gates of heaven,if you don’t your banishing to hell,but god still loves me why would he send me there?? Oh by the way,have ya got a few pound for the pope???? FFS give me a break!!!!
They do believe in the sun.. The Sun of god, his 12 apostles, born on December 25th having died on the Crux and risen again after 3 days.. Having wonderful healing powers, granting all of us life, being the “light”.. The calf (Taurus), the ram (Aries) and the fish (Pisces), even the water carrier (Aquarius).. Born in Bethlehem / the house of bread which is also a reference to the maiden with the wheat chaff (Virgo) – where the sun rises from on the 25th. They’re all mentioned in the bible.. They’re all references to the stars, they even follow the star to the birth of the Sun.
Mithraism mixed with mushroom worship.. The body and blood refers to the Amanita Muscaria mushroom in its “grail” phase, where the morning dew collects in it and resembles blood. These mushrooms were known as the “gods flesh” and the coloured water the “blood of the gods” in ancient Shamanism..
They even have two large stone fountains in the shape of these mushrooms in the middle of St Peters Square. And the Pope has a nice red cape with white dots to go over his alb that looks like the stalk of the mushroom..
Seriously, “The Pharmacratic Inquisition” look it up..
The closure of the embassy is purely an anti Catholic reaction by Eamon Gilmore
He is not closing the embassy in Tel Aviv even though he has openly supported the Palestinian cause
The Vatican is the only state in Europe that Ireland does not have an embassy
The
The Vatican is the only state in Europe the Ireland does not have an Embassy
We have serious issues with for e.g.Israel but there is no question of us closing our embassy there
Question here is why does it cost around a million to run an office ,surely they could get a phone line and a person to answer it for less than a million a year after all we have over 400 ,000 unemployed not to mention all the early retirees looking for a hobby.
Secondly if these embassies where not productive a change of staff is what’s required .
Thirdly Iran has a population of 70 million surely we could sell them something but hey why bother if you can get 1 million a year for doing nothing .
We need a revolution .
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