Last year diplomacy the administration cost of diplomatic representation in 26 other EU Member States cost the British Government over €141 million last year while the Irish Government spent €19 million on our diplomatic enterprise in the Member States. That excludes the €3.3 million Ireland spent on the permanent representation to the EU in Brussels.
British diplomacy in Ireland costs HM Government €2.7 million while Irish diplomacy in the United Kingdom cost €4.5 million, including almost €1.25 million spent on offices in Armagh and Belfast. Ireland’s diplomatic spend in the UK is broadly similar to the British diplomatic spend in Cyprus.
Six years ago Ireland spent over €7 million in Great Britain maintaining offices in Cardiff and Edinburgh as well as the embassy and visa office in London.
There are just five jurisdictions in the world where Britain does not have a diplomatic presence. Ireland currently has 56 embassies, 10 consulates and 7 multilateral missions with entities such as the European Union, United Nations, Council of Europe and the OECD. Several ambassadors carry accreditation to third countries on a non-resident basis, such as The Holy See.
The following is a comparison of actual 2011 costs of maintaining these embassies:
| COUNTRY | UK – € | IE – € |
| AUSTRIA | 6,810,326 | 655,547 |
| BELGIUM | 8,428,181 | 799,662 |
| BULGARIA | 3,469,899 | 360,831 |
| CYPRUS | 4,544,052 | 366,537 |
| CZECH REP | 4,624,478 | 570,991 |
| DENMARK | 5,509,086 | 393,102 |
| ESTONIA | 2,328,663 | 378,515 |
| FINLAND | 4,789,540 | 508,919 |
| FRANCE | 12,797,155 | 1,647,082 |
| GERMANY | 18,979,903 | 926,903 |
| GREECE | 7,698,253 | 471,858 |
| HUNGARY | 5,339,509 | 486,420 |
| IRELAND | 2,767,729 | |
| ITALY | -1,651,964 | 1,146,284 |
| LATVIA | 1,812,955 | 183,604 |
| LITHUANIA | 1,812,955 | 414,957 |
| LUXEMBOURG | 1,677,422 | 387,042 |
| MALTA | 2,809,973 | 324,249 |
| THE NETHERLANDS | 5,755,805 | 652,113 |
| POLAND | 8,050,601 | 737,398 |
| PORTUGAL | 4,751,460 | 427,883 |
| ROMANIA | 4,153,139 | 472,071 |
| SLOVAKIA | 2,102,514 | 356,754 |
| SLOVENIA | 1,946,207 | 400,385 |
| SPAIN | 14,553,068 | 971,078 |
| SWEDEN | 5,502,374 | 616,346 |
| UK | 4,502,655 | |
| TOTAL | €141,263,284 | €19,159,126 |
[The negative figure showing for the British embassy in Italy is due to income from other Government Departments and impairment (property revaluation) costs.]
Ireland’s diplomatic footprint in North America costs €4.4 million; BRICS €4.2 million, Latin America €1.3 million, The Middle East €2.5 million, Asia-Pac €4.9 million and the United Nations €3.2 million.
The are also diplomatic offices and embassies that support the Irish Aid programme and in other locations, such as Norway, Turkey, Nigeria and Switzerland.
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