Vatican policy behind reason to close embassy

MUCH heat and very little light has been expended on the Government’s decision to close one of our two embassies in Rome (neither of which are in the Vatican).

What is actually happening is that our embassy to Italy is being closed as a cost-saving measure and its operations are being transferred to the Villa Spada, our former embassy to the Vatican.

Nowhere else in the world do we have two embassies in one city, and the usual practice is for us to accredit our ambassador in one country to other neighbouring countries as a cost-saving measure. No small country can afford to maintain an embassy in each of the 200-plus states around the world.

The reason our ambassador to the Vatican will no longer be based in the Villa Spada is because the Vatican has a unilaterally imposed policy of not allowing ambassadors to Italy to be also accredited to the Holy See.

As a direct consequence of this, many countries accredit their ambassador to some other European country to the Vatican.

If the Vatican had wished to retain an Irish ambassador based at the Villa Spada, all it had to do was to allow us to accredit our Irish ambassador to Italy to the Holy See, thus showing due respect to the straightened circumstances we now find ourselves in.

Frank Schnittger

Red Lane

Blessington

Co Wicklow