Top Irish envoys gather today to see how well our diplomatic network adapts to new realities
IN MID-FEBRUARY, a German business magazine ran an unflattering story about Ireland, describing it as a "banana republic". The report in Wirtschaftswoche, an influential weekly title, prompted the Irish ambassador in Berlin to write a letter to the editor complaining of its "unfair and unbalanced" depiction of Ireland.
“We realise that there is a steep slope that remains to be climbed,” he wrote. “But we have a young, well-educated population and an open, export-oriented economy which gives me great confidence in our future.”
Similar letters have been sent from Irish embassies across the world over the last three years, as ambassadors attempt to cut through the fog of often misinformed or simply inaccurate reporting in a bid to present a narrative of what caused Ireland’s economic crisis, and how the country might recover.
It is part of a wide-ranging diplomatic effort that includes briefing politicians, officials and media in host countries, as well as placing op-ed articles in leading publications.
Today the heads of Ireland’s 76 embassies and consulates will gather in Dublin for a conference organised on foot of a commitment in the Programme for Government to recall ambassadors and consuls within 100 days “for briefings on a new approach to promoting and marketing Ireland as a country to do business in” and to “ensure that our diplomatic network aids the repair of our reputation through a transparent and responsible approach to winning inward investment”.
The conference also raises larger questions of how well Ireland’s diplomatic network is adapting to new realities, not just in terms of the national crisis, but also in wider geopolitical shifts.
“It was fit for purpose in the old scenario, that of the old Europe and the old model of globalisation,” says UCD’s Prof Ben Tonra, whose research interests include Irish foreign policy. “I think there are new challenges that we haven’t planned for which we now need to develop for, particularly in terms of the rise of the Bric countries [Brazil, Russia, India, China].” Prof Tonra believes the economic crisis has injected a whole new urgency to the debate over the way Ireland conducts its diplomacy.
“Before this, I think there was a bit of laziness in the Department of Foreign Affairs in terms of living off the capital it had generated over decades from being the ‘good Europeans’, and Ireland being the poster-child of globalisation and EU membership,” he says.
"Having developed a pattern and expectation of how Ireland is seen, I think there was a sense of having to turn the Titanicin terms of re-engineering the diplomatic service to do something very different, very quickly, in terms of a very immediate crisis."
In 2009, the McCarthy report on public expenditure recommended the State’s network of embassies and consulates be reduced from 76 to 55, a proposal rejected by then minister for foreign affairs Micheál Martin as short-sighted. He argued that shrinking Ireland’s diplomatic footprint would amount to a false economy, given the role Irish diplomats play in the country’s recovery. “We need an effective international presence to get our point across, support our citizens and maximise trade and investment opportunities. Now, more than ever, we must be seen to be ‘open for business’,” Martin said.
John Doyle, a lecturer in international relations at DCU, agrees. “The old image of a diplomat is completely out of date. Increasingly, and depending on the country you are in, the work can be exclusively focused on trade and economic matters,” he says.
The scale of Ireland’s diplomatic network is modest compared to other European states of similar size and international profile. “On a per capita basis we have an extraordinarily small foreign service,” says Prof Tonra. “Most of our embassies are run by three or fewer diplomats.”
Doyle says it would be a “disaster” for Irish business if embassies were to close. “Irish industry would really feel it . . . and if you were to shut that many embassies in the EU, I think you would see a really negative impact in terms of the politics of what we could achieve in Brussels.”
Prof Tonra believes it is not just about doing more with less, it’s about reimagining Irish diplomacy. “We need to re-examine how we have traditionally done things,” he says. “We must look at countries that are making a success of a new kind of diplomacy in a new kind of globalised world, and see what lessons we can learn from that.”
Ireland's diplomatic network: how it compares
IRELAND is represented overseas by a total of 76 missions, 58 of which are embassies, seven multilateral missions [those attached to the UN for example] and 11 consulates and other offices.
In addition to their country of primary accreditation, many Irish Ambassadors are also accredited to additional countries on a non-resident basis.
For example, Ireland’s Ambassador in Egypt is also accredited to Jordan, Sudan, Syria and Lebanon.
The Department of Foreign Affairs describes its 76 missions as a “modest global presence” compared to states that Ireland would rank itself with. These include Austria, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden – all have a diplomatic network that comprises more than 100 missions.
The scale of Ireland’s diplomatic footprint is more akin to that of Slovakia or Cyprus.
Overall, Ireland’s overseas missions are small, with well over half staffed by just one or two diplomatic officers. Only nine missions have more than three diplomatic officers.
Last year, the total administrative costs of maintaining the State’s network of diplomatic missions (excluding the salaries of officers based in headquarters) came to approximately €57 million – down 34 per cent on the 2008 figure.
Ireland’s medium to small EU missions cost on average about €650,000.
In its recent submission to the Croke Park Agreement review process, the Department of Foreign Affairs noted that it had achieved annual savings of more than €3.5 million through measures that included cutting overall employee numbers, negotiating rent reductions for embassies, retaining embassy vehicles for longer and streamlining personnel.
The department has tested what it calls “a lighter model of diplomatic and consular representation”, which has resulted in missions in Atlanta, Edinburgh, Luxembourg, Nicosia, Riga, Tallinn and Valetta being staffed by only one diplomatic officer.
This has resulted in savings of €240,000 annually.