Government announces major 2022 St Patrick’s Day Programme to Rebuild Connections

The Government of Ireland today announced the 2022 St Patrick's Day programme which will see the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Government Ministers travel to promote Ireland and Irish interests around the world.

In-person Ministerial level visits were possible only in a very limited way in 2020 and not at all in 2021. This year’s St. Patrick’s Day programme will see a promotional programme of 33 high level visits abroad which will take place in line with local COVID-19 public health guidelines.

The central message of this year’s St Patrick’s Day is that Ireland is reopening, and the international programme will focus on the theme of Rebuilding Connections & Supporting Communities across the globe.

St Patrick’s Day is the primary flagship for realising the ambition of the government’s ‘Global Ireland’ programme to promote Ireland as a great place to live, visit, work, study, and invest, with an integrated, all of government, Team Ireland approach.

In this centenary year of the foundation of the State, and as Ireland marks the fiftieth anniversary of accession to the EEC, Ministers will underline Ireland’s commitment to the European Union, reinforce Ireland’s commitment to protecting the hard-won peace in Northern Ireland, and celebrate our heritage and renew our links with our global Diaspora and business leaders.

The hugely successful ‘Global Greening’ initiative will continue this year, with over 600 iconic landmark buildings around the world planned to be lit up green to celebrate St Patrick’s Day.

The objectives for the St Patrick’s Day 2022 programme are as follows:

• recognise the resilience and solidarity of Irish people everywhere throughout the pandemic
• acknowledge the Irish overseas and emphasise the importance of our Diaspora, whose connections to Ireland have been so severely impacted by the pandemic
• reconnect and strengthen relationships with key political leaders, business leaders, decision makers, influencers and stakeholders across the world
• celebrate the country's contemporary and traditional arts, culture and heritage
• highlight key national initiatives including EU50, Ireland’s Council of Europe Presidency, Centenary 1922, and Ulysses 100
• enhance international understanding of Ireland as a great place to live, visit, work, invest, trade with, and study
• widen and deepen international appreciation of Ireland’s values, policies, culture, diversity and global impact, including Ireland’s role on the UN Security Council and in UN Peacekeeping
• enhance Ireland’s reputation, visibility and influence

Where in-person events are not possible due to the pandemic, Ireland’s network of Diplomatic missions will host a series of online community, business and cultural events. This will include country-specific ‘virtual receptions’ that will be broadcast on St Patrick’s Day.

Given the broad array of activity and rich content created for St Patrick’s Day across Government, a St. Patrick’s Day Hub 2022 will be set up on an enhanced ireland.ie website, making available in one place content that will highlight St Patrick’s Day schedules, and signpost visitors to the websites and information across the government system.

The following visits will take place as part of the St. Patrick’s Day programme: