A long way from Mullingar to Mogadishu for this mum

It is a long way from her native Mullingar to Mogadishu, but for diplomat Síghle Fitzgerald the distance is all part of a day’s work.

Currently posted in Brussels, where the Irish contingent have been at the centre of the action since the turn of the year due to our six-month presidency of the EU, Síghle has also worked in Madrid and Washington since joining the department of Foreign Affairs in 1992.

One of her responsibilities during Ireland’s presidency is to chair the organisation’s ACP (African Caribbean Pacific) Working Group, which oversees the allocation of development funds for some of the most impoverished countries in the world.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner from a “wet, miserable Brussels”, the former Loreto girl admitted that getting all 27 members to reach a consensus can at times be like “herding cats” and often requires “lots of negotiations in the background”. One thing that helps is that the Irish have “built up a reputation as honest brokers”.

“We are seen as a small country but at the same time, we are respected. The Lithuanians will have the presidency after us and for them it’s quite daunting as they have never had it before and don’t know what to expect.”

While most of her time is spent in Brussels, from time to time Síghle travels to the developing countries that have benefited from EU aid. Last year her job took her to the war-torn east African state of Somalia.

After over a decade of anarchy, some semblance of stability is slowly returning to the country, thanks in part to EU aid.

“I was there last July, we went on a special flight... Mogadishu is completely bombed and we travelled around with soldiers from Burundi guarding us.
“I had a vision what Mogadishu looked like, but to see people who had lost everything living their lives and wanting to contribute puts everything into perspective.”

Síghle, whose late father Pat was a garda in Mullingar for almost 40 years, enjoys her life in Belgium but wants her 10-year-old son Eimhin to complete his education in Ireland. “I want to him to have a sense of home,” she says.