The Department of Foreign Affairs has become embroiled in a legal dispute with the house manager of its Paris embassy, after the outgoing ambassador refused to remove him from his post, writes Mary Raftery.
Ambassador Padraic MacKernan has resisted terminating the contract of the embassy's Maitre d'Hotel, Eduardo Ramos. But the department and the incoming Paris ambassador, Anne Anderson, are insisting that Mr Ramos's employment should end now that Mr MacKernan is leaving Paris.
Mr Ramos, a Filipino, has worked in Irish embassies for 17 years. If his employment ends, he will also lose his accommodation in the embassy, where he lives with his wife and daughter. Ms Anderson, who has been Ireland's permanent representative to the EU in Brussels, has argued that for personal reasons she would prefer to have a woman in the post occupied by Mr Ramos.
The row is the second time Mr Ramos's and Ms Anderson's paths have crossed in this way; in 2001 she did not want him to continue in a similar post at the Irish mission in Brussels, saying her preference was for a woman in the house manager role. That difficulty was overcome at the time, when Mr MacKernan offered Mr Ramos the Paris position.
When contacted by The Irish Times yesterday Ms Anderson said she did not want to comment publicly on the matter.
According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, domestic staff such as Mr Ramos are hired by the Head of Mission in each overseas posting and their employment ends when the Head of Mission moves on.
"The management of the residence and the employment of domestic staff in Irish missions abroad are matters within the responsibility of the incumbent Head of Mission," the department said yesterday. "Each member of the residence staff is employed by the Head of Mission for a period co-terminous with his or her term of office. This condition of employment is made clear by each Head of Mission to employees. In the circumstances, the department does not propose to make any further comment."
In a letter to Ambassador MacKernan last month, Ms Anderson wrote: "Being on my own. . . as Head of Mission over the last 10 years, I have always had a woman housekeeper/house manager.
"Given the range of tasks involved, this has always seemed to me an easier and more relaxed situation and one that I would like to continue." She said she wanted Mr Ramos treated with consideration, and if he were informed of the position right away, he would have three-and-a-half months' notice to find new accommodation.
When Mr MacKernan - who left Paris this week - declined to terminate the employment of Mr Ramos, the personnel section of the department wrote to Mr Ramos telling him that his employment would cease.
"Your services will no longer be required from the date of commencement of the term of office of the incoming Ambassador," the department wrote.
A lawyer for Mr Ramos has now told the Department that Mr Ramos intends to legally challenge the move, and to "take all appropriate measures and legal proceedings to include injunctive remedies if necessary to prevent such action".