Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore has said he is to meet the ambassadors of Ireland’s 26 EU partners on Friday as part of a diplomatic initiative aimed at explaining our policies and restoring our reputation.
Mr Gilmore said Ireland’s reputation had been damaged during the economic downturn and that the Programme for Government recognised the need to restore Ireland’s reputation in Europe and further afield.
He said fixing the banks was a very important element in restoring Ireland’s national reputation.
“The fall in the cost of our ten year government bonds since the banking announcements is a measure of the confidence the markets are beginning to show in the new government’s plans, and this renewed sense of confidence is a sign that slowly but surely our reputation is being restored.”
Mr Gilmore was speaking at an event where the public relations firm, Corporate Reputations, announced the results of the Ireland RepTrak 2011 study, which ranks companies in terms of public perception.
He said the Irish diplomatic service was working hard on reputational matters and that he was looking forward to the Friday meeting where he would discuss “how we can best take this good work forward and briefing them on the importance the Government attaches to promoting and marketing Ireland abroad”.
He said he firmly believed the best way to restore Ireland’s reputation was to put in place firm policies on issues of national concern and to sell them vigorously to the community and the wider world.
Asked afterwards about the dinner organised by Ireland’s honorary consul to Monaco, Dr Michael Smurfit, during the official visit here of Monaco’s Prince Albert, Mr Gilmore said it was not an official dinner and he had not known about it.
Dr Smurfit’s guests including former Irish Nationwide boss Michael Fingleton, and the controversial Independent TD Michael Lowry, who was recently the subject of an Oireachtas motion calling on him to resign following the findings of the Moriarty tribunal.