THE IRISH embassy to the Vatican was one of the least expensive missions in the diplomatic service last year, according to official figures.
As the row over the closure of the embassy continues, it has emerged that Ireland’s missions abroad cost the taxpayer €76 million last year. Salaries, travel and subsistence claims for diplomats and hospitality costs made up the bulk of spending.
The total wage bill was €42.8 million and hospitality costs came to €18.1 million, while travel costs amounted to €14.2 million, according to documents released by the Department of Foreign Affairs under the Freedom of Information Act.
Separately, the Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday spelled out the operational costs last year of the three diplomatic missions listed for closure.
The embassy in Iran cost €420,987; the Vatican cost €348,000; and the mission to Dili in Timor cost €200,000.
The department estimated that moving the Irish Embassy to Italy into the Villa Spada, the official residence of the ambassador to the Vatican, would save €445,000 in rent.
The figures for the total cost of embassies for last year, including wages, entertainment, travel and rent, showed that the Vatican cost €589,300 while the Embassy to Italy cost almost three times as much, at €1.5 million. The former ambassador to the Holy See, Noel Fahey, retired in June 2011.
The most expensive Irish mission is the permanent representation to the European Union in Brussels, which cost €9.3 million last year. The least expensive was the Vietnamese capital Hanoi (€172,000). Four senior diplomats earn more than €168,000 a year, just below the salary of a Cabinet Minister, the figures show. A further 24 ambassadors are earning between €127,000 and €146,000 as assistant secretaries of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Fianna Fáil spokesman on foreign affairs and trade Seán Ó Fearghail said he was surprised at the salaries and expenses paid to ambassadors.
A spokesman for the department said that since 2008 there had been a reduction of 22 per cent in the administrative budget of the department, which generated a saving of €43 million.
In Strasbourg yesterday, Fianna Fáil North West MEP Pat “the Cope” Gallagher called on the Government to reverse the Vatican decision. Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore reiterated the decision could be reviewed if the Vatican relaxed the requirement that the embassy be housed in a separate building and be occupied by a separate ambassador.