Warning on cutting back on embassies

DIFFICULT CHOICES on spending in the Department of Foreign Affairs had to be made but some services “provided through our embassies and consulate generals should be regarded as inviolable”, Minister of State Dick Roche has told the Dáil.

He told the Opposition spokesman however that “axes are being wielded and we must cut our cloth according to our measure”.

Mr Roche said the McCarthy report suggested cutting the number of embassies by 20 from 75 and cutting staff numbers by 65. It also recommended a reduction in job grades and foreign service allowances should be cut by 12.5 per cent.

The timeframe for reaching the overseas development aid target should be extended until 2015. There should be a reduction in funding to emigrant services and an end to the free passport scheme for those over 65.

Fine Gael foreign affairs spokesman Billy Timmins warned against cutting back on embassies. “We should consider appropriate amalgamations because we export so much”. He said the concept of an “Irish house” should be developed rather than stand-alone embassies.

The embassies would be linked with various bodies and facilities that Government departments had abroad.

“We have approximately 10 Irish houses across the globe. We should develop this concept rather than cut back on embassies, as it would lead to rationalisation.”

Labour spokesman Michael D Higgins said the McCarthy list of cuts would “do irreversible damage to our reputation”, and “we cannot export to Latin America if there are no embassies there”.