Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry has denied the reports that it will be closing down its embassy in Dublin, reports The Irish Times.

The Irish Times reminds of the recent reports in the Bulgarian media that the government plans to shut down 30 of its 114 diplomatic missions around the world including the Bulgarian embassies in Ireland, Norway, Estonia, Lithuania, and Slovakia.

“The Bulgarian ministry of foreign affairs is indeed undergoing a wide-reaching reform driven by the need to modernise and optimise the diplomatic service. However, no decision has yet been taken about the scope and the concrete targets of the optimisation efforts. While usually there is no comment on media publications, I can assure you that the information about an alleged decision to cut 30 embassies and, more concretely, the one in Dublin, is purely speculative,” the Spokesperson of the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry Vesela Cherneva has told The Irish Times.

The Bulgarian Embassy in the capital of the Republic of Ireland Dublin is located on Burlington Road in Ballsbridge.

The Irish Times draws a parallel between the reports about the closure of Bulgarian embassies, and a similar step by Sweden confirmed as far back as January 2010. Sweden is closing its embassies in Ireland, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Slovakia, and Slovenia.