The Department of Foreign Affairs could scarcely have chosen a more symbolic site for the new Irish Embassy in Berlin than Checkpoint Charlie, the former crossing point between east and west that is now in the heart of the city's government quarter.
The place looks quite harmless now, dominated by two colour photographs of young, smiling soldiers, one Russian, the other American. But a few relics of the grim old days remain, such as a sign warning "You are now leaving the American Sector", and a small museum nearby documents the cases of many of those who died trying to flee to the west.
Philip Johnson's stark, modernist business centre, which houses the embassy, is a gleaming manifestation of the new Berlin, where east and west meet in what the authorities hope will be a spirit of entrepreneurial optimism. None of this symbolism is lost on the Ambassador, Mr Noel Fahy, but he is more concerned with the practical advantages of the location.
"You can walk to the Foreign Ministry, you can walk to the Reichstag, you can even walk to the Chancellery at the moment. It's a very functional place, but it's close to everywhere we need to go," he said.
The embassy, which will be officially opened today by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, is one of the State's busiest, issuing more passports than any other in Europe except London.
Most of the diplomatic and consular staff moved from Bonn late last summer, and Enterprise Ireland (formerly known as the trade board) has moved its Berlin office into the new premises. When the agriculture attache leaves Bonn shortly, the move will be complete.
The embassy is renting office space in the Checkpoint Charlie building, but the Department of Foreign Affairs has bought an ambassador's residence in the elegant district of Grunewald. A listed Bauhaus building, it offers plenty of room for official entertaining, but the embassy expects to host many receptions in its large conference room, where the ambassador was yesterday supervising the hanging of two Louis le Brocquy paintings just arrived from Dublin.
The Department's investment in Berlin is testimony to the growing importance of Germany to Ireland, particularly in business terms. Germany is now the second-biggest investor in Ireland, its second-largest export market and third-largest trading partner.
Mr Fahy, who took up his post in Bonn last year, has been involved in European Union affairs for almost 30 years, most recently as assistant secretary in charge of the economic division of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Warm and charming in his manner, he displays a formidable knowledge of the intricacies of German politics and clearly relishes the challenge of coming to terms with the country's unwieldy federal system.
"I like learning about this terribly complex culture, realising that Germany is not Berlin or Bonn but 16 capitals big and small. It is federal in a very real sense," he said.
Most of Germany's 16,000 Irish residents live far from Berlin, in the south and west of Germany, and much of the business activity between the two countries is concentrated in the region near the Rhine. The Irish Food Board will be in Berlin later this week for the annual Green Week, a vast food and drink fair; but, along with the other semistate bodies, its home remains in Dusseldorf.
The two countries could yet fall out over tax harmonisation and Germany's ambition to see more EU issues decided by majority votes rather than unanimity. But Mr Fahy insists that such issues are unlikely to mar the harmonious mood that now prevails between Berlin and Dublin.
The ambassador's optimism may owe much to the fact that, politics and business aside, Germans like the Irish so much. Angela's Ashes has been one of the biggest publishing successes Germany has seen in recent years, and the appetite for Irish music and writing appears to grow each year.
"I have to cast around for problems. There are none," Mr Fahy said.
