Diplomacy is far more than an economic exercise
That the Labour party in Government is delighting in thumbing its nose at the Vatican should concern us, but when diplomatic networks and contacts built over generations with what is probably the world’s best connected information hub are wiped out, that seems downright reckless and we should be scared.
And the reason? Mr Gilmore apparently realised that there is no economic return from the Holy See! Since when was international diplomacy an economic enterprise or measured as such? These are not the values of the Irish people who send peacekeepers, missionaries, development workers, not to mention our diaspora, around the world with “no economic return”. We have other multilateral missions where there is no return. These are Celtic Tiger values, which one might have thought we’d left behind, but it seems we’re back to gauging values in terms of pure economic profit.
