ROME
The Irish Times
ROWAN GALLAGHER
DEPARTMENT REPORT: STAFF AT the former Irish embassy to the Holy See provided an important service by keeping in contact with leaders of the Catholic Church, according to an embassy inspection report.
Embassy personnel maintained an active dialogue with senior Vatican civil servants on issues with a bearing on Ireland’s national interests, the report said. Drawn up in 2008 by a Department of Foreign Affairs inspection team comprising two officials, it was the last such report prepared in advance of the closure of the embassy earlier this year.
The embassy to the Holy See in the Vatican was closed, along with the Irish embassies in Iran and Timor Leste, as part of a cost-cutting measure by the Government.
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