President met with Israeli ambassador

I refer to the letter from Dr Kevin McCarthy regarding the departing ambassador of Israel to Ireland.

All arrangements for a courtesy call by departing ambassadors to the President are made by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade at the request of the ambassador concerned. If there was any confusion regarding this call, as Dr McCarthy suggests, then this arose in contacts between the ambassador and this department.

In general, when the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is informed that a departing ambassador wishes to see the President before her or his departure, the department contacts the President’s office to make the necessary arrangements.

In this particular case, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade did not inform the Office of the President that a courtesy call was sought because the issue had not been raised in discussion with the ambassador. If there was any misunderstanding between this department and the Israeli embassy, this department certainly regrets that.

As soon as the department became aware that there appeared to be confusion about the arrangements, it made contact both with Áras an Uachtaráin and with the Israeli ambassador.

The President immediately made himself available to meet with the ambassador and the meeting took place in Áras an Uachtaráin on Wednesday, August 12.

It would be both inaccurate and misleading to draw from this any broader conclusions about relations between Ireland and Israel.

Ralph Victory

Director, Communications Unit

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade