Politics

Taoiseach defends reopening of Irish Embassy in Iran

Simon Harris says staff safety of ‘paramount’ importance but stresses benefits of ongoing diplomatic relations with Iran

The Taoiseach said ongoing relations with Iran were 'significant' in the release of an Irish national. Bernard Phelan was released from Iranian jail on humanitarian grounds earlier this year. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
The Taoiseach said ongoing relations with Iran were 'significant' in the release of an Irish national. Bernard Phelan was released from Iranian jail on humanitarian grounds earlier this year. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
Sun Oct 13 2024 - 00:01

The Taoiseach has defended the decision to reopen an Embassy in Iran.

The conflict between Iran and Israel has escalated to direct missile strikes in opposing territory.

Simon Harris said the safety of staff at the Irish Embassy was of “paramount” importance but stressed the benefits of ongoing diplomatic relations with Iran.

“The safety of any diplomat or local staff who would work in any structure would, of course, be a factor in terms of deciding when to physically open a building, where to do it, how to keep them secure,” he said.

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The Irish Embassy in Tehran closed in 2012 due to the impact of the financial crisis.

In 2021 then foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney announced the re-establishment of an Irish diplomatic presence in Iran. That year, a charge d’affaires was posted to Tehran, joined later by other staff.

Ambassador-designate Laoise Moore arrived in the city at the start of last month but has yet to be offered a date to present her credentials formally to Iranian officials.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has insisted it is normal for ambassadors to have to wait for weeks or months before a date is offered to formally present credentials.

“This does not preclude the Ambassador-designate managing the work of the mission over the intervening period,” it said. “In this instance, a date for our Ambassador-designate in Tehran to present her credentials has not yet been fixed.”

The department said the full embassy team was now in place and the embassy was in operation.

In November 2022 a number of Fine Gael parliamentarians wrote to the then-minister for foreign affairs Simon Coveney asking him to stall or cancel the reopening of the Irish Embassy in Tehran. That was in the wake of the death in Tehran of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. She died after being arrested by morality police for not wearing her hijab correctly.

Mr Coveney said, at that time, that the Government was “not ploughing ahead” with the reopening, which was “under review”.

Mr Harris said there was a misconception that diplomatic relations with Iran were only being established now, adding: “They’ve already existed – the question now is the infrastructure you put in place on the ground and, of course, the security situation in the region will be paramount in our mind.”

The Taoiseach said ongoing relations with Iran were “significant” in the release of an Irish national.

Bernard Phelan, a 64-year-old Irish-French national originally from Clonmel in Co Tipperary, was jailed for seven months in northeast Iran after being arrested in Mashhad in October 2022.

He was accused of providing information to an enemy country – charges he denied. He experienced significant ill health while in custody. Mr Phelan was released on humanitarian grounds earlier this year.

Mr Harris added that having diplomatic relations was “not the same as agreeing with a country”.

“I mean, we have diplomatic relations with Russia – we utterly deplore the actions of Russia,” he said. “We have diplomatic relations with Israel when I’m very clear Israel, in my view, is continuing to engage on a war on children in Gaza.

“So, we can have diplomatic relations with a country and continue to call out that.”

The Irish Embassy is operating in space provided by the embassy of Germany – with a view to opening a new premises early next year. – PA