Orla Murnaghan talks to Barry Tumelty, Counsel General of Ireland in Sao Paulo, about working in Foreign Affairs

Orla Murnaghan talks to Barry Tumelty, Counsel General of Ireland in Sao Paulo, about working in Foreign Affairs Can you tell me a little about your educational background?

Sure. I started in Trinity doing law and French in 2001, so I suppose I always had the idea of during sometime international, not necessarily taking the traditional route of being a barrister or solicitor, but something in the international dimension. I did my Erasmus in Paris and I was lucky enough to get a scholarship to go to the European College in Bruges when I finished my undergrad. It was at a point in 2006 where there was quite a few opportunities so I actually was lucky to go directly from my Master’s to joining the Department of Foreign Affairs.

What is your role in Irish foreign affairs?

At the moment I am the Counsel General of Ireland in Sao Paulo. We have an embassy in Sao Paulo because it is such a big city, with a population of over 20 million people in the city and over 40 million in the state, there are great trading opportunities here and great opportunities to promote Ireland especially in research and business. We also work very closely with Enterprise Ireland, they have an office here beside us so we actually share what we call an Ireland-house arrangement: we are under the one roof, they have their client companies and we support Enterprise Ireland’s efforts but also work to promote Ireland more broadly, getting the image of Ireland out there and the profile of Ireland’s work with educational sectors in particular. At the moment about 16,000 Brazilian people go to Ireland every year to learn or improve their English. Many of them actually go on to third level in Ireland. That wasn’t happening about 10 years ago and is creating new interest between Ireland and Brazil. And new opportunities! Basically we find when you have those personal connections, then economic opportunities can open up and there is great potential down the road for trade between Ireland and Brazil to increase. Then there is a lot of cooperation at third level- so for example, the Brazilian government ran a scheme that was called Science without Borders which saw over 3300 Brazilians studying in Ireland for about a year each and that meant that a lot of research partnerships were formed - between Irish Universities and institutes of Technology, we have around 100 agreements in place at the moment in universities. The Irish Research Council just confirmed in February an agreement with the Sao Paulo Research and Innovation Foundation, it is an area that is growing in significance and for research. So really the role of foreign affairs is very different so depending on where you are the nature of your work changes very dramatically.

Is there a lot of variety in working in foreign affairs?

Well I suppose the variety is fantastic. Diplomats can move. I had the opportunity to work in Brussels on multinational negotiations, working on legislation across all sorts of different areas of interest for Ireland… any area you can think off under the sun. But then I went to Mexico and Sao Paulo to promote Irish culture, and I also worked for example with the Department of the Taoiseach during our presidency of the European Union in 2013. And I have been able to work for a period on behalf of the protocol team and look after visits of VIPs into Ireland and also arrange a programme for the President when he travels abroad. I got to travel to a lot of different countries over the years, and get to meet the people in other countries and get to understand them a bit better. When you are living abroad you are trying to adapt and understand things from their perspective, to try and analyse the opportunities and relationships that can help Ireland. I think we put a lot of emphasis on our values so obviously in every mission we work to present our foreign policy objectives. This week, Ireland has just launched a new international development policy for a better world. We work to promote peace, disarmament, and security so Brazil has traditionally been a partner of multilateral force. Actually at the moment, Ireland is launching a major campaign to get elected onto the UN Security Council in 2021 so really that is something that is a focus for our mission. I think for a small country looking outwards we need to

recognise the values that we actually get from having a peaceful UN that promotes human rights and the peaceful contribution that we can make, given that Ireland traditionally has not been a partisan player. So that means that we are getting our message out in every country in the world, not just the ones where we have embassies and consuls, and then in the UN itself we are quite active, so Ireland is currently the chair of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. It is also co-chairing the Committee on Partnerships for Small Island Developing States and will join the UN Peacebuilding Commission. In Sao Paulo we are not just involved in meeting rooms, we are also promoting Ireland’s values and making sure they find reflection in what we do here on the ground. Yesterday I was actually with the UN helping in a couple of shelters for Venezuelans refugees, who cross the border from Venezuela into the north of Brazil, and the Brazilian government have a system to bring them to other parts of the country to facilitate their integration into society here, so that is a project that we are keen to support and it is great to see the project hitting the ground. The Venezuelans have arrived and they are very happy with the support that they are getting from the UN and the UN partners here on the ground. Another aspect of the very fulfilling interactions that we have is with Irish citizens. The Irish community here is actually small but it’s vibrant. For diplomats, it is so rewarding when you can help an Irish citizen that is in trouble – maybe they’ve had a bereavement or an accident – and you can take small steps to make their lives easier in great stress or trauma, so those moments are wonderful. You have to think of the big picture but also humanity.

How has studying Law and French helped build your career? Is a law degree necessary to work in the Department of Foreign Affairs?

I think it is a great foundation, and obviously having studied a language is a huge benefit as well if you are thinking about going down the international path. I would strongly encourage a language or two, and I picked up a few more along the way myself. In terms of skills, particularly analytical skills are really valuable generally. Foreign Affairs are expanding at the moment and we recognise other people have a large variety of skills and backgrounds, so law and economics might be a very traditional place where people would be recruited from, but we have geneticists and archaeologists also part of our diplomatic core, as well as people with different backgrounds. We are very keen to insure that it is a positive environment in terms of gender and we are increasingly ensuring that we can be broader in terms of our social diversity. We feel that we are strongly motivated on these issues. I think that there are great opportunities for young graduates to come into Foreign Affairs. Just in June of last year, we launched a Global Ireland policy which effectively will double the growth of Ireland’s footprint by 2025. It’s a hugely ambitious project and we are trying to grow and diversify our exports investment from abroad and look at new ways to connect with our diaspora. When we talk about the diaspora our traditional community, like in the US and UK, are themselves changing, so we are looking at new way of reaching out for regeneration and location. Earlier I spoke about the education of some Brazilians who have studied in Ireland - we would consider them part of our diaspora as people with a close relationship with Ireland, and we are looking at how we connect with them. We are also expanding our cultural programme and our bid for security council membership is part of the programme as well. We are in a great position to open new embassies because it would give Ireland even greater reach. In South America alone in January we opened in Bogota, in Colombia, and we are opening as well in Santiago in Chile. Already our footprint on the ground in Latin America has increased significantly. Also, we have training opportunities for Irish people who are considering a career in international relations. There are huge opportunities opening up for very diverse roles. Law is great as a background, but we are also interested in candidates with great adaptability, resilience and the ability to work in different environments as well. It is very rewarding when you have that variety to work with.

Finally, what advice would you give to someone who aspires to work in Foreign Affairs?

I think that there are a few different things to consider. I think you should reach out to people working in foreign affairs, or other Trinity graduates, for some informal advice. Learn a language, look at different international opportunities. There are so many different routes into the international world. You don’t need to get fixated on exams to get into the Department for Foreign Affairs because there are other opportunities where you can gain real practical experience, such as working in Brussels or in the UN. That direct experience will show that you are ready for the job by having worked with others organisations and NGOs, getting as much practical experience as you can. Law is a very academic background, but showing diversity and adaptability and practical experience will all help you.