So much we can learn Ireland’s economic success and international outreach
St Patrick’s Day has been marked in Scotland and around the world as never before. Not only do hundreds of thousands of Scots have Irish heritage, but tens of thousands of Irish people have chosen to make Scotland their home in recent years.
According to the 2021 census there are 56,877 Irish people in Scotland, the highest percentage of the population in Great Britain outside Greater London.
Across Scotland there have been cultural, educational and economic events to celebrate the Irish community and relations between Ireland and Scotland. The official St Patrick’s Day reception hosted in Edinburgh by the Irish Consulate General was attended by Minister of State Robert Troy TD. He was one of over 38 representatives of the Irish State bringing Ireland’s St Patrick’s Day message to more than 90 cities in 40 countries and promoting Ireland as a place to invest, visit, work or study.
The Irish Government has ambitious international outreach which sees representatives of the state engage in programmes to promote Ireland and Irish interests and values in the world. The Taoiseach Micheal Martin was in the United States and met with President Donald Trump, the Tánaiste Simon Harris was in Philadelphia and New York, while scores of ministers attended events on every single continent of the world.
The overall message of St Patrick’s Day 2025 for Ireland has been a focus on the ambitions outlined in the Irish Programme for Government, “emphasising Ireland’s outlook and attractiveness as a small, open trading economy, with our economic success rooted in this openness and our willingness to build partnerships”.
Their ministers promoted Irish investment overseas, international research and education collaborations, mutually beneficial partnerships between Irish and overseas companies and the successes and growth of overseas companies that have chosen Ireland as their base in Europe.
The St Patrick’s Day programme offered “an unparalleled opportunity to build relationships with key political and business leaders, decision makers, and cultural and academic partners; to communicate the consistent, principled and constructive approach that characterises our foreign policy; to celebrate Ireland’s contemporary and traditional arts, culture and heritage; and to highlight the achievements and impact of our Global Ireland strategy”.
All of this fits into context the economic success Ireland currently enjoys as an EU member state. It’s wealth per head is now more than twice that of Scotland and the UK as a whole. While Ireland has enjoyed a record budget surplus of £20.8 billion the UK has had a budget black hole of £22bn. While Ireland introduced a series of one-off cost-of-living payments, including €250 for all households to help with energy costs the UK Labour government has cut the universal £300 winter fuel payment for pensioners and failed to deliver lower energy prices. While Ireland is setting up a sovereign wealth fund for future generations, the UK has squandered the income from Scotland’s oil resources.
Scotland and Ireland have an excellent working relationship, with a bilateral cooperation framework. There is much we are already doing in trade, education, research and culture. There is more we can do on renewables, including hydrogen. Where we can learn from one another we should. One of those areas is international outreach, where the scale of Ireland’s international engagement around St Patrick’s Day is really impressive and dwarves Scotland’s efforts around St Andrew’s Day, Burns Night and Tartan Day combined.