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THE GOVERNMENT’S DECISION to close Ireland’s embassy to the Vatican has been criticised by the leadership of the Catholic Church in Ireland.
Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland said the move shows “little regard for the important role played by the Holy See in international relations”.
Meanwhile Garry O’Sullivan, editor of the Irish Catholic newspaper, said the closure was part of a wider “attack on Catholic culture” by the government.
Cardinal Brady expressed “profound disappointment” at the closure, which was announced yesterday by Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore.
In a statement, Cardinal Brady said the opening of diplomatic relations with the Vatican had been a key moment in the early days of Irish independence and establishing “the identity and presence of the Irish Free State internationally”.
Announcing the move, Eamon Gilmore said that the embassy closure was part of a drive to make savings across the government. He stressed that again this morning, telling Newstalk: “We have to cut our cloth.”
However this explanation was rejected by O’Sullivan, who suggested the “ill-judged” move was a result of the government’s “spat with the Holy See” over the Cloyne Report.
“What we’re getting with this Labour government is an attack on Catholic schools, an attack on Catholic culture,” O’Sullivan told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
He also suggested that the closure showed Gilmore’s inexperience, saying that the Vatican embassy would be an opportunity for Ireland to have a voice in the changing Church. “Here is an opportunity for the Irish government to put pressure on the Vatican for reform, and we’re walking away from this opportunity,” he said.
Seán Ó Fearghaíl, Fianna Fáil’s spokesperson for foreign affairs, also criticised the closure, which he said was “more about headlines than the substance”. He said the Vatican was “a very important diplomatic centre in Europe”.
TheJournal.ie reported earlier this year that the embassy in the Holy See cost €455,820 to run in 2010. Embassies to Iran and East Timor will also be closed.
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I unfortunately had to register the death of a family member recently. Got the paperwork from the hospital in January and wanted to get it sorted quickly but was told the next available appointment at the registry office was in March. Five days is great in theory but good luck getting that go happen in practice
@Laura Diver: I’m very sorry for your loss. I hope you won’t mind me asking a genuine question? Why did you have to do it in person? My mam passed away 18 months ago and we were allowed to email, was that just a covid thing I wonder? You’d think if it worked they would allow it to continue. My dad passed away more than 10 years ago and I can’t remember how we registered his, though I know we waited 6 months for his death certificate as it was a sudden death requiring post mortem. Again my condolences
Beggars belief. Currently getting through probate is a nightmare (minimum 16 weeks), even with a will made. Can’t believe the system is efficient enough to get through this in a month.
OK so I don’t give a damn about the flipping records and what statistics they want to record (unless my loved one did die from plague or the likes). Hounding the grieving like that is disgraceful.
@Helen Downey: absolutely agree
@Helen Downey: we were waiting 19 months to get rhe inquest for my brother.
@Helen Downey: some families might want it done as soon as possible for their own reasons, it’s not just about stats.
Three months may be longer than necessary in most instances, but the suggested timeline here is disgracefully short for a grieving family, 4-6 weeks would be far more reasonable and compassionate
@Jo H: Presumably dependants will need this proof to access pension and death grants and so on?
@Fiona Fitzgerald: Yes, financial institutions etc. won’t do anything until they are provided a copy, but not everyone needs or is able to consider starting to organise that stuff within 10 days so that might not be a driving factor for many. I know people who have acted on it that day after a funeral, others who take longer. It’s a very personal thing. There should of course be a deadline, I just think the one being proposed is too tight.
The problem is that they need to fix the system behind the scenes first rather than reducing the time for families to register as the first port of call. What is the point of reducing that if it then becomes impossible to do? I mean really.
And as for triggering other services – that would be great but lets face it, departments in this country don’t talk to each other. Or else they get a bit too ahead of themselves – my dad’s pension from the Dept. of Education was stopped on his date of death based solely off his death notice in the paper. Which didn’t contain enough information to really identify him down to an individual. Absolute madness.
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