Minister for Foreign Affairs Mícheál Martin has defended a €4.4 million refurbishment of the Ottawa residence of the Irish ambassador to Canada.
Mr Martin's comments came on foot of a report in a Canadian newspaper describing the extent of the development.
"The embassies play a very key role actually, both in helping to win inward investment and in supporting the work of Enterprise Ireland and IDA by utilisation of the embassies for economic purpose," Mr Martin told RTÉ's This Week programme.
It was reported in the Ottawa Citizen that the CAD $7 million development was the largest residence ever built in the Rockliffe Park area.
The paper said the residence featured "an oversized wine cellar, hobby area, data room, recreation room, study, library, gymnasium with a green padded floor, two kitchens including a commercial-sized operation, a chef's office, art gallery and what appear to be five fireplaces, including a stone-plated monster in the living room with the capacity to kick out enough heat to warm an average-sized house."
A construction worker was quoted by the paper as saying: "All that's missing is a throne for Caesar".
Mr Martin acknowledged that the amount spent in Canada, where Ambassador Declan Kelly lives, was a significant sum.
"The embassies play a very key role actually, both in helping to win inward investment and in supporting the work of Enterprise Ireland and IDA by utilisation of the embassies for economic purpose," he said.
“There will be very little enhancement or upgrading of facilities in the next couple of years because we don’t have the same resources that we had in previous years,” he added.
Fine Gael's Billy Timmins described the development as "outrageous and unjustifiable".
“Those bearing the brunt of the recession at home are entitled to feel infuriated at the Government’s decision to prioritise funding for a ‘palace’ over special needs assistants, hospital wards and social welfare payments", Mr Timmins said.
“This is nothing less than an insult to every single taxpayer”, he added.
