Govt to review embassy decision when economy improves

The decision to close the Irish embassy in the Vatican will be not be reviewed in the near future after it was discussed at a Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting last night.

Transport Minister Leo Varadkar has said that review may happen in a few years and will depend on economic circumstances improving.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore announced the closure of the embassy last year in his capacity as Foreign Minister and said the move was made on economic grounds.

There was concern at the time that the decision was motivated by a disagreement between the Government and the Vatican over its reaction to clerical child abuse allegations in Ireland.

Minister Varadkar said Fine Gael and Labour made the decision jointly and there is no difference of opinion on the matter.

Mr Varadkar said: "I think it is important to say that the decision to close the Vatican was a decision made by the Government, it wasn't a decision made by any one Minister or any one party.

"It was a decision made in the context of very difficult economic times where we have had to close a number of embassies. I don't think it is going to be reviewed any time soon but perhaps if economic circumstances change in a number of years' time, we might be able to review it then."