Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 October 2026
8. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade her views on the merits of establishing embassies in all EU accession countries with a view to increasing diplomatic relations as negotiations on their prospective membership continue. [68253/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra85. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade her plans to support the establishment of embassies in all EU accession countries with a view to increasing diplomatic relations as negotiations on their prospective memberships continue. [68254/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraI support the increase of Ireland's diplomatic footprint generally. In the European Union it is hugely important that we invest in those relationships. There is no EU country that does not have an embassy here and there is no EU country in which we do not have an embassy. In relation to accession states to the European Union, an issue that, as part of our Presidency, is hugely important, there are at least three that will come into the accession process, hopefully quite soon, or are completing it, where we do not have embassies. Has thought been given to establishing a permanent diplomatic presence in those countries?
I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 85 together.
Ireland strongly supports EU enlargement as the European Union's most effective policy for ensuring the security, stability and prosperity of our Union. Ireland strongly benefited from EU membership and we believe that other European countries deserve the same opportunities that European Union membership has brought to us, provided that the necessary reforms are implemented.
EU enlargement is also a key priority of our EU Presidency and takes up a lot of my time as Minister of State with responsibility for EU affairs. During our Presidency, we have already secured significant progress on enlargement over recent months. In July, during the first month of our Presidency, I chaired the highest number of accession conferences, which are the formalities of moving along the process, in a single day since 2002. We advanced the candidacies of Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine and Moldova.
Over recent years, as a demonstration of our commitment to EU enlargement, we have significantly strengthened our diplomatic ties with candidate countries, including through the opening of new embassies in Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia in September last year. Ireland also maintains embassies in Ukraine and Türkiye, while our embassies in Athens, Ankara, Belgrade, Bucharest and Budapest are accredited to Albania, Georgia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Kosovo, respectively.
Decisions on new missions will be taken in the framework of Global Ireland 2040 and the subsequent whole-of-government regional plans committed to in the programme for Government. All decisions on new openings are based on a robust analysis of how they will support our citizens, contribute to the promotion of our political and economic interests and promote our culture internationally.
I entirely agree with what the Minister of State has said about the importance and I also recognise the number of new embassies that have been opened. I was in Moldova last September during the parliamentary elections and I met the ambassador who was setting up the embassy there. Just this week, I attended an EU enlargement conference in Tirana in Albania and I met our Greek ambassador, Ciara O'Floinn, who was not just there and present for the conference in Tirana but was clearly very well connected with Albanian parliamentarians and is clearly very present on the ground in Tirana as well.
I recognise the hard work that has been done by our diplomats who cover, on a non-resident basis, countries such as North Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania. Should we now be taking the next step of opening embassies in these countries? Certainly in relation to Montenegro the received wisdom is that it is very far along the track. The Minister of State mentioned that it is one of four countries which are progressing their accession status. In fairness to Montenegro, it has done a huge amount of work. I met the delegation in Tirana this week and I have also met them here. Surely if we are to maintain the principle of having a presence in every EU country, we should also have a presence in those countries close that are to accession.
The Minister of State mentioned other countries such as Kosovo, Georgia and Türkiye. We have an embassy in Türkiye but Georgia and Kosovo are covered by the embassies in Türkiye and Hungary, respectively. They are a little bit further away, realistically. Montenegro seems likely to become a member of the European Union in the coming years and we do not have an embassy on the ground. I am not saying we do not cover it because I know the embassy in Belgrade does a super job there and I pay tribute to it for the work it does. The principle of having a presence in countries is very important. Enlargement is close to our hearts. We were part of the first wave of accession to the European Union and we have been a very important part of many of the accessions since then. Part of this involves establishing a diplomatic presence in these countries.
I thank Deputy Ward. I am sure the Minister and the Government will take this matter very much into account.
The very fact we opened up new missions in the region in the past year in particular means we are now less thinly spread. Before our embassy was opened in Serbia, which was relatively recently, Montenegro was covered from Budapest, along with other countries, including Serbia. Now the staff of the embassy in Budapest have more time and can also focus on Kosovo, where they are still accredited, while the embassy in Belgrade can focus on Serbia and Montenegro. We are less thinly spread and have more resources in the region. This has been noticed. It gives us a chance to have a deep connection. Deputy Ward mentioned our ambassador in Greece with regard to Albania. It is easier to do this if there is only one country attached to another. It is relatively common that we have countries attached to particular embassies. We do not have a diplomat in every mission.
Without prejudging any Government decision on this, it is the case that we have an embassy in every EU member state. Our diplomats do extraordinary work. They provide extraordinary value for money. They do diplomatic work, consular work, political work and trade work. They help to promote Irish business and trade and, therefore, help to create jobs here. They do incredible work. We have one in every EU member state and if we go with this logic, I would have said that it is likely the Government will make a decision, certainly at the very latest when some of these applicant countries become member states of the European Union. All of this is, of course, under constant review by the Government and we certainly appreciate the need for it and the advantages that it brings.
I thank the Minister of State and I agree with what he said about our missions on the ground. They provide consistent, excellent service to Irish citizens there and here because of the work they do. The Minister of State mentioned trade and there is also cultural engagement, the presence on the ground and increasing the profile of Ireland in these countries.
I also recognise what the Minister of State said about the excellent work done by ambassadors who have responsibility, on a non-resident basis, for countries such as Montenegro, North Macedonia and Albania. I recognise how much work they do. I also take on board what the Minister of State said about this being under review and the principle that if and when these countries become members of the European Union, it will, hopefully, be a priority to open embassies there.
There is no lack of contact with those countries, and when their delegations come here to meet the European affairs committee or to meet me, as Chair of the committee, they constantly say there is contact with the Irish Government, but we must consider maintaining our connection to accession. When we think of it, we were not only part of the first accession but also key to the negotiations on German unity in the first half of 1990. In 2004 we were key to the day of welcomes when the largest accession ever, of ten new member states, happened during our Presidency. We were key in the negotiations to the most recent accession of Croatia in 2013. This is something that works for us because we understand the value of being part of the European Union and we know how much Ireland has benefited from it.
As the Minister of State has said, we want to make sure the countries that want to share in the success and prosperity should be given the opportunity to do so wherever they can. Part and parcel of this is to send a very clear signal to countries such as Montenegro, Albania and North Macedonia that we are so invested in this that we are going to open on the ground resident diplomatic representation in their countries. This would be a very welcome move. I say this conscious of the fact that we are serving these communities and countries extremely well as it is. I think we could do it better. I recognise the commitment the Minister of State has made in terms of the quality of service we are providing at a diplomatic level in these countries as well.
Deputy Ward has made all of his points very well. Again, it is important to remember that the focus of our missions abroad is primarily to support our citizens, to contribute to the promotion of our political and economic interests and to promote our culture internationally. I am familiar with a number of cases in the region that we will never see in the media or on social media where diplomats are really going out of their way to help Irish citizens who have got into difficulties of various kinds. We all know about these situations. They do incredible work. I said earlier that our embassy in Budapest looked after Serbia but it was actually our embassy in Bucharest. It was our embassy in Romania that looked after Serbia. However, the point is valid that having more embassies frees up resources, and it has freed up significant resources. There is now a significant focus on Serbia and Montenegro and, as I said, our embassies in Budapest and Bucharest can focus more on the work they do there. Embassies in places such as Bucharest are very busy because there is a huge connection between Ireland and Romania in terms of the movement of people. Again, if we look at Moldova, we have opened an embassy there. This is important from the point of view of it being an accession country but there are also a lot of people coming from Moldova to Ireland. This generates work for an embassy also.
There is a range of different factors that the Government has to take into account when opening embassies, primarily resources. I am hopeful in the context of the accession, without wishing to prejudge the situation, that the Government will be inclined to continue its position of having an embassy in every member state of the European Union. I can tell Deputy Ward that during the Brexit process it was very useful to have somebody in every capital. It was very useful to get our position across and explain the difficulties we were facing. When other countries are in difficulties we hear it directly if we have embassies there. I thank Deputy Ward for raising this point.
