IRELAND IS TO RE-OPEN an embassy in the Vatican later this year, three years after closing its premises there.

The Department of Foreign Affairs says a "scaled-back, one-person embassy" will be accredited to the Holy See.

"This will enable Ireland to engage directly with the leadership of Pope Francis on the issues of poverty eradication, hunger and human rights," it said in a statement.

The re-opening is one of five new embassies approved by the Cabinet this morning, which are supplemented by three new consulates.

The government says the eight new operations will cost €4.7 million a year, and are earmarked as an effort to "support Ireland's foreign trade and inward investment".

The Vatican embassy was controversially closed in 2011, alongside Ireland's embassies in East Timor and Iran, with estimated savings of €2.55 million a year.

The government cited the costs of the embassies as the reasons for the closure, but was accused of closing the embassy in protest at the Catholic Church's handling of various child abuse scandals in Ireland.

New embassies will also be created in Zagreb - cementing Ireland's position of having an EU embassy in every EU capital city - and in Nairobi, Jakarta and Bangkok.

Consulates will be opened in Austin, Texas - considered a growing technology hub - as well as Sao Paolo, Brazil and in Hong Kong.

Meanwhile the existing Irish Aid office in Freetown, Sierra Leone, will also be upgraded to an embassy at no extra cost to the taxpayer.

The embassy in Lesotho is being closed, with its functions transferred to Ireland's embassy in South Africa, while the embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania is to be slightly downsized.