THE DEVELOPMENT of an EU diplomatic service will not have a negative impact on Ireland’s own diplomatic network, the secretary general of the Department of Foreign Affairs told an Oireachtas committee yesterday.
David Cooney said the work of the European External Action Service (EEAS) envisaged under the Lisbon Treaty will, in several respects, be different to that of the State’s embassies and consulates, which focus largely on trade and liaising with Irish communities, and, in the case of Irish Aid programme countries, development issues. “My personal view is that I wouldn’t expect it to have a huge impact on our operations,” he told the Oireachtas Joint Committee on EU scrutiny.
Mr Cooney also observed the EEAS will have a greater reach across the world compared with Ireland’s relatively small network of 75 overseas missions. Irish citizens may, in the future, be able to receive consular assistance from EU embassies in countries where Ireland does not have a diplomatic mission, he added.
Questioned about proposed cuts in the McCarthy report, Mr Cooney said he was confident that embassies in developing countries where the State runs bilateral aid programmes would not be shut. Mr Cooney described Ireland’s embassies in the smaller EU states as the “real Cinderellas” of the State’s diplomatic network as they were operated by very small teams of staff.