Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for Ireland
Newsline: Talks under way to reopen Irish embassy in Vatican
Talks aimed at re-opening the Vatican embassy in Rome on the same site as the Italian embassy are taking place with church authorities, according to the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs. David Cooney — who is also Ireland’s non-resident ambassador since the embassy closed — told the Dail Public Accounts Committee that the Vatican has rules against a country having one embassy or ambassador serving both Italy and the Holy See. Other countries have been allowed house their Italian and Vatican embassies in the one building. But Mr Cooney said he had been talking to Vatican officials on the possibility that Ireland could use Villa Spada in Rome, which housed the Vatican embassy, for both, adding that it depended on more resources being made available. However, he was adopting an approach of “the less said, the better”, since the Vatican would be more likely to relax its rules for Ireland if the negotiations didn’t draw the attention of other countries seeking similar treatment. He also said nobody in Government asked his department to close the embassy, and insisted it was on a cost-cutting shortlist drawn up by his officials. As part of budget cutbacks, Mr Cooney said his department came up with a number of options, which included closing embassies in East Timor and the Vatican together, or East Timor, the Vatican and Tehran, Iran, together.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/talks-under-way-to-reopen-vatican-embassy-3093714.html
Newsline: Embassy in Brussels promoted event on avoiding Irish taxes
Details of an event advising Irish expats living in Belgium on how to transfer Irish pension schemes to other EU jurisdictions to avoid paying Irish taxes have been circulated through the official emailing list of Ireland’s Embassy in Belgium. The email, sent on April 19th by a local staff member at the embassy in Brussels, informed those on the mailing list of “an information event about the pension scheme in Ireland” due to be hosted by the Irish Club of Belgium at the Holiday Inn hotel in Brussels on May 15th. “If you have a pension in Ireland please see the second attachment for more details. Kind regards, Embassy of Ireland,” the email read. The information sheet from the deVere Group and STM Malta talked of the “significant advantages” of transferring Irish pension schemes to a “safe EU jurisdiction” such as Malta. It notes that the pensions levy announced in May 2011 and retrospectively enforced from January 1st, 2011, “could be as much as 10 per cent of your pension fund”. It advises readers they are entitled to transfer their pensions to an overseas scheme under the Occupational Pension Schemes and PRSA (overseas transfer payments) Regulations 2003. This scheme, it notes, will not be subject to the pensions levy. “If you live outside Ireland, transferring your pension to a STM Malta QROPS (Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme) will avoid ALL Irish taxes,” it said. In a statement, a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said the message was circulated by a member of the embassy’s local staff acting in good faith at the request of the Irish Club of Belgium. “It was inappropriate for the embassy to appear to promote the event in question and steps have been taken to ensure that a similar mistake does not happen again,” the spokesman said.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2012/0428/1224315297326.html
Newsline: Motion to reopen Irish embassy in Vatican defeated
A motion to reopen the Irish embassy in the Vatican has been defeated at the Labour party conference in Galway. Delegates rejected a recommendation from Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Joe Costello to refer the motion to the party’s central council and then went on to vote it down on a show of hands. Proposing the motion, Sean Canniffe (Tuam, Co Galway) said the Vatican was the centre of the Catholic world and the embassy was a very important symbol of its relationship with Ireland. “I am not suggesting that anybody who is not a Catholic should believe this, but that is what Catholics believe,” he added. Gerry Kerr (Finglas, Dublin) said the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore had stated unequivocally that the embassy was closed solely for cost-cutting reasons. He said the embassy should be kept closed until the Vatican fully co-operated with the Republic’s inquiries into the sexual abuse of children.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0415/breaking43.html
Consular affairs: Switzerland’s embassy shifts consular section to London
The consular section of the Swiss embassy in Ireland is being moved to London as part of a reorganisation. The small section looks after Swiss nationals living in Ireland and deals with queries about passport and ID cards, visas, immigration and emigration, citizenship requests and registration of births, deaths and marriages. However, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs is making the move as part of a reorganisation of its consular network throughout the world. A statement said that the embassy in Ireland would continue to perform its diplomatic duties, but the consular section was being moved to the Swiss embassy in London. The visa section of the Dublin embassy closed down permanently on April 13 last, it said. Visa applications for Switzerland for tourism, visits and business will now be processed by the Austrian embassy in Dublin, which is at 93 Ailesbury Road. Visa applications for work, study, medical reasons and residence will be processed at the Swiss embassy in London.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/switzerlands-embassy-shifts-consular-section-to-london-in-reorganisation-3081265.html
Newsline: Australian Embassy blasts racist advert asking ‘no Irish’ to apply for bricklaying job
The Australian Embassy has blasted a racist advert looking for a bricklayer in Perth which includes the instruction that “no Irish” are wanted. The ad on classifieds website Gumtree states: “Bricklayer needed ASAP. $250 a day, no part-time workers and NO IRISH” – in language reminiscent of the discrimination against the Irish in British cities in the 1950s. A spokesman for the Embassy said: The Australian Government has no tolerance for racism and discrimination and this is reflected in a broad range of anti-discrimination legislation in Australia. “The Government has an unwavering commitment to a multicultural Australia and greatly welcomes the contribution made by people of all backgrounds , regardless of origin, gender, or colour, to Australia’s culture, society, and prosperity,” he added. Simon, the man who placed the ad, defended the move today stating that he was sick of Irish people applying for jobs with no experience. “I have no trouble with Irish people,” he told Independent.ie, but he would not disclose his full name or the name of the company he works for. “But I’ve had to fire a number of people. I’ve had lots of Irish people say they have experience bricklaying but come over and have no clue how to lay bricks. “I’m very busy and don’t have time to be watching over them.” He added that he is well aware of the anti-discriminatory legislation in Australia. The placement of the ad has drawn attention on the internet and twitter. Many of the postings reflected shock at the ad. Two years ago it was claimed that “No Irish need apply” signs were going up on building sites in Poland in a bid to take revenge on some unscrupulous builders who treated their staff badly.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/australian-embassy-blasts-racist-advert-asking-no-irish-to-apply-for-bricklaying-job-3047010.html
Newsline: New British ambassador to Ireland
After being evacuated from Iran three months ago, the new British ambassador to Ireland is expecting to experience an easier time in this country. Following a short stint in Tehran, which ended with a vote in parliament to expel him and an attack on his embassy in December, Dominick Chilcot will move to the leafy suburbs of south county Dublin. He succeeds Julian King, who served in Dublin during the historic visit of Queen Elizabeth II last year.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/new-british-ambassador-3041652.html
Newsline: 40pc say Vatican embassy closure was definite snub
The Government faces lingering resentment over the decision to close the Vatican embassy, the Sunday Independent/Millward Brown Lansdowne poll shows. Most people don’t believe Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s vehement assertion that the decision to shut the embassy was based on financial reasons. The poll found that 40 per cent of respondents are convinced that the icy relationship between the Government and the Vatican was behind the move — manifested most clearly in Mr Kenny’s landmark address to the Dail in which he said that the Cloyne Report highlighted the “dysfunction, disconnection, elitism and narcissism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day”. In all, just 22 per cent believe the Government’s assertion that the removal of our ambassador and his staff from the Vatican was simply to save money in the diplomatic and consular service. Another 22 per cent believe the Government killed two birds with one stone — shutting the embassy for both political and financial reasons. A large rump of 16 per cent don’t know why the decision was taken. The poll findings come as the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin admitted that the Catholic Church in Ireland is at “breaking point” in an interview on the most popular news programme in the US. In an interview pre-recorded with CBS’s 60 Minutes in Dublin, Dr Martin said that, with the church in crisis, now was not the time to forget the scandal of clerical child sex abuse. According to the Sunday Independent/Millward Brown Lansdowne poll, among the 40 per cent who believe that the decision to close the Vatican embassy was political, a slight majority of 54 per cent believe it was a bad decision and 33 per cent back the closure on political grounds with 13 per cent “don’t knows”.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/40pc-say-vatican-embassy-closure-was-definite-snub-3038944.html
Newsline: Israel advises Irish group on Vatican embassy
The Israeli ambassador has offered advice to a Catholic campaign group seeking the reinstatement of Ireland’s embassy to the Vatican and the possibility of its co-location with the embassy to Italy. Campaigners met with ambassador Boaz Modai at the Israeli embassy in Ballsbridge, Dublin. Israel’s embassies to the Vatican and Italy share the same complex on Via Michele Mercati in Rome. Mr Modai served as Israel’s ambassador to the Holy See when it decided to locate two of its embassies there because of budgetary constraints. The Irish Government has come under pressure to operate dual embassies in Rome following public outcry over the closure of the embassy to the Vatican. Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has continually said he would review the closure if the Vatican relaxed a demand for two embassies in Rome, housed in two separate buildings, with two separate staffs. Campaign group Ireland Stand Up met Mr Modai and sought advice about how Israel operated such a relaxed rule with its two embassies. The Israelis requested that both embassies be on one site in Rome after their embassy to Italy opened in 1994. The British embassies to Italy and the Vatican share the same address on Via XX Settembre 80A in Rome.
http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/israel-advises-group-on-vatican-embassy-184648.html
Newsline: Irish government confirms Vatican Embassy closure will stand
The Dublin government has again confirmed that the decision to close the Irish Embassy in the Vatican stands. The Department of Foreign Affairs has stated that the closure will remain in place despite renewed pleas from Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin. Speaking before a mass to welcome the new Papal Nuncio to Ireland, Dr Martin expressed his wish that the embassy to the Holy See be restored. “I am confident the embassy will re-open in some other way,” said Dr Martin who expressed his belief that the Italian and Vatican embassies could be on the same site, and share some facilities, while remaining separate. But Irish deputy Prime Minister Eamonn Gilmore is adamant that the decision, taken in the wake of the Cloyne Report on Clerical Sexual Abuse as relations between Church and State soured, is not for turning. His claims have been re-iterated by the statement from the Foreign Affairs department which he oversees. “It may be reviewed down the line in the light of the economic circumstances and the resources available to the department and our diplomatic network abroad but not in the near future,” said a Department spokesman. Prime Minister Enda Kenny remains under pressure from within his own ranks to reverse the decision to close the embassy at the Vatican.
http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Government-confirms-Vatican-Embassy-closure-will-stand–139684913.html
Newsline: Vatican embassy may reopen within two years
Ireland will reopen its embassy to the Vatican “within the next year or two if economic conditions allow”, European Affairs Minister Lucinda Creighton has predicted. The Cabinet decided in November to close the embassy on the recommendation of Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Gilmore, who cited economic grounds as the reason. The move has led to significant opposition from Fine Gael backbenchers, who say they have been receiving extensive complaints from constituents about it. Ms Creighton is among those to have expressed a desire to see the embassy re-open, despite the fact she is the junior minister in Mr Gilmore’s department. In an interview with the Irish Examiner, she was careful not to criticise Mr Gilmore but again reiterated her belief that the embassy would be reopened within the Government’s term. The Irish embassy to the Vatican was based in Villa Spada, a historic building owned by the State. The Vatican embassy was entirely separate to Ireland’s embassy to Italy, which was located in rented accommodation in Rome. As a result of the decision to close the Vatican embassy, the Government decided to move the Italian embassy to Villa Spada to save money. However, the ambassador to Italy cannot double up as the ambassador to the Vatican because the Holy See does not permit a “joint servicing arrangement”. However, in the Seanad this week, Mr Gilmore signalled that the Vatican might be willing to show “some flexibility” on the issue. “What I would like to have been able to do would have been to combine the embassy in Italy and the embassy in the Vatican. “The Government has decided to appoint the secretary general of my department, David Cooney, to be the ambassador to the Holy See and to service that mission from Dublin. “There are some indications that the Vatican may be willing to show some flexibility with regard to the co-location of embassies and offices and then we will continue to explore those possibilities. “If circumstances improve, we can re-examine the position, but at the moment, the position is as it is and we do not have a resident ambassador to the Vatican.”
http://www.irishexaminer.com/news/vatican-embassy-may-reopen-within-two-years-says-creighton-182614.html
