Our Minister for Foreign Affairs is travelling around the World this week as other high ranking Ministers attend meetings via Videolink.
Reports of Simon Coveney (Fine Gael) travelling to Brussels and Turkey this week has been upsetting the Irish community whose movement are restricted to just 5km from their homes. The Irish community cannot attend Mass or funerals whilst Simon Coveney crosses International borders according to the Department of Foreign Affairs website.
CatholicArena Tweeted on hearing Mr Coveney was in Turkey: “We can’t go to Mass, we can’t go outside a 5km radius, we get reported in the papers if one extra person shows up to a funeral
But @simoncoveney can take a taxpayer funded holiday to Turkey? People should not cooperate with this nonsense of one rule for them and one for us”.
According to The Burkean, Simon Coveney met The Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusogl in person to discuss the prospects of greater integration and membership for the 82 million predominantly Sunni Muslim nation into the European Union.
Some have argued that Turkey Muslim country is so big and so culturally different from the other member states that its accession could undermine the overall EU project.
In 2004, the Irish Examiner reported “Some have argued that Turkey Muslim country is so big and so culturally different from the other member states that its accession could undermine the overall EU project” and then quoted Mr Coveney “We should develop a positive neighbourly relationship with Turkey rather than accepting them as a full member”.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.