Closure of the Vatican embassy sparks a holy show
What: An unholy row
What's new about that? Sure aren't they always having unholy rows in Leinster House, in between bouts of backbiting, a series of scraps and doses of dog's abuse?
Indeed, but this is literally an unholy row -- or perhaps a holy war would be more accurate -- over the Government's closure of Ireland's Vatican embassy.
Hang on, aren't various austerity-minded head-the-balls always giving out about the cost of running our foreign consulates?
Yes, frequently. And last November Tanaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Gilmore announced the closure of three embassies -- in Iran, East Timor and Vatican City -- as part of scraping together savings to appease the troika beast. The Government reckoned that the decision not to have a diplomat bobbing about in the Holy See could save about €600,000 a year.
So we've no Excellency in Italy?
Yes, we do. There's an ambassador to Italy, who will now be moved from his rented gaff into the posh premises owned by the Irish State, the Villa Spada, which previously housed our man in the Vatican. Nor is the Pope getting the total cold shoulder from us, for David Cooney, secretary general of the Department of Foreign Affairs, has been appointed a "non-resident" ambassador.
That all sounds quite logical, so who's on a crusade to have the embassy reinstated?
Oh there has been all sorts of trouble over this closure. It was (naturally) greeted with dismay by the Vatican, the Irish holy brass, and a variety of concerned Catholics -- including most of Fianna Fáil and a crop of Fine Gael backbenchers.
Do they suspect skullduggery from heathen elements of the Government?
Of course. For a start, Eamon Gilmore is a man of no religion, so there are dark mutterings about dire consequences which would surely arise from the "secularisation" of the nation, although it's utterly ludicrous to suppose that the Tánaiste is some sort of wild-eyed atheist hell-bent on destroying the church.
But isn't Enda a practising Catholic?
Yes, nonetheless the Taoiseach's faith didn't prevent him from delivering a searing verdict on the role of the Catholic Church in covering up child sex abuse in a searing speech in the Dáil last July in the wake of the publication of the Cloyne Report.
So the closure of the embassy is seen by some as another part of the Government's effort to sunder the already weakened links between the church and the State?
No doubt about it. The Taoiseach's remarkable speech was seen as a historic drawing of a line in the sand between the two. And Enda and Eamon were firmly in agreement over the closure of the Vatican embassy and are insistent it was for economic reasons alone.
But not all their own backbenchers agree?
No. Several of the Fine Gael TDs are openly unhappy and are probably getting bucketloads of grief from the more devout among their constituents.
At a recent parliamentary party meeting, a debate on the decision became so heated that two senior ministers, Michael Noonan and James Reilly, reportedly had to tell everyone to cool the jets. There was even a set of rosary beads introduced into the frank exchange of views, courtesy of Dublin South deputy Peter Mathews.
So are Enda and Eamon hanging tough on this one?
Sort of. Though there have been vague murmurings about conducting a "review" of the closure at some stage and junior minister Lucinda Creighton eagerly suggested that it could be reopened within two years.
But Enda hopped off Micheál Martin in the Dáil on Wednesday when the Fianna Fáil leader insisted that an embassy was needed to deal with issues such as child protection.
"We had people on the ground in the Vatican for very many years and look what happened ... look what was allowed to happen," he said.
It all seems a bit of a sideshow, given the state of the economy.
Yep, they're making a right holy show of themselves.
Originally published in
