Minister Simon Coveney announces programme of global St. Patrick’s Day events

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney TD, today announced a full programme of virtual events to mark St. Patrick’s Day around the globe involving events organised by the Department of Foreign Affairs and its global mission network, other government departments and agencies and partner organisations.

Minister Coveney said:

"The last 12 months has been a year like no other and we have adapted our traditional programme of St. Patrick’s Day events to reflect the current reality. Our Embassy and Consulate network will provide over 80 virtual receptions to bring the Global Ireland network together. Our website, ireland.ie will provide a hub where you can get a taste of the full range of St. Patrick’s Day activities happening across the globe."

Minister Coveney continued:

"I would also like to pay specific tribute to the thousands of Irish essential workers across the globe. Their sacrifices and hard work, both on this island and on foreign shores, have kept us all safe during this period of crisis. It is only right and proper that we make them the centrepiece of our national day and I am proud that we can share some of their stories with a global audience. Our video expresses the solidarity the Irish people have shown this past year and signals hope for the year ahead."

The Department of Foreign Affairs network will be hosting over 80 virtual receptions worldwide and has created the “Virtual Ireland House” hub on ireland.ie, providing an overview to St. Patrick’s Day activities across the world.

St. Patrick’s Day virtual receptions

A series of country-specific ‘virtual receptions’ will be broadcast around the world on St Patrick’s Day with over 80 virtual events planned. Each reception will last approximately 30 minutes and will include short messages from the Taoiseach, and the head of mission in each country along with tailored content for that region.

St Patrick's Day Video

A short St Patrick’s Day video has been created to engage the Global Irish community. The video is a reflection on the year past and hope for the future. It is a collection of statements, manifestos, hopes, dreams and fears from Irish people who are living abroad and who have helped keep the world in motion in some way over the last 12 months, from peacekeepers to nurses to healthcare policy makers. Composed of a series of soundbites from six participants, this video will illustrate our humanity, commonality, culture and endurance through arresting visuals and candid responses.

The video can be downloaded here: https://dfa-ie.sharefile.eu/share/view/sda83bd30a3f645b5b586bf3136528ca0/fof3580e-03cf-42a5-8233-2b4690dbb336

St Patrick’s Virtual Ireland House

Given the broad array of rich content being created for St Patrick’s Day, the department is hosting a ‘Virtual Ireland House’ hub – on Ireland.ie/spd. This will provide international visitors a means of finding and viewing activities from across Ireland and globally by highlighting SPD schedules and content, and signposting people to associated websites. It will contain the St. Patrick’s Day message from the President and Minister Coveney. This hub will enable a diverse audience to experience and share in the collective celebration of St. Patrick’s Day 2021 as well as providing some key messages on Ireland’s values and strengths.

“Taster” pages include a focus on the activities of the St Patrick’s Festival and Cultural Ireland (Seoda), as well as an overview of activity on Tourism, Irish businesses, FDI, Food, Education, Research, our Diaspora and our Contribution (Irish Aid and Peacekeeping). A summary of this activity includes:

St Patrick’s Festival 2021 presents Dúisigh Éire! Awaken Ireland! This year’s national festival calls on our tribe of 80 million worldwide to throw off the long, dark months and rise to embrace the brighter days ahead. The festival has created 100+ events over the last few months, all of which will be available to view across the world on a dedicated online TV channel, St Patrick’s Festival TV (SPF TV) from 12-17 March
Enterprise Ireland is launching a new green, innovation-focused international campaign ‘Ready for a Green Future’. EI’s 40 international offices will also host over 50 virtual events across the world to engage international partners and support the growth of Irish enterprise internationally. The international green innovation campaign, ‘Ready for a Green Future’, focuses on the climate agenda, and as the world emerges from COVID-19 there is a need to build back better, prioritising sustainability and tackling the many environmental challenges we face in delivering a green recovery
IDA Ireland will host investors online this year through a series of virtual roundtables with clients during St. Patrick’s week. Senior Irish Government members and IDA CEO Martin Shanahan will join IDA clients to discuss current investment conditions in Ireland, Ireland’s COVID-19 response and future investment opportunities. The Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, the Tánaiste, Leo Varadkar, Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, Minister for Further and Higher Education Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris and the Minister for Trade Promotion, Robert Troy will be hosting meetings with IDA clients in the US, Europe, UK and Asia
Tourism Ireland has launched a new online film featuring the voice of Liam Neeson wishing the world a Happy St Patrick’s Day. On 17 March Tourism Ireland will live broadcast from three of Ireland's best-loved pubs, that will provide a festival of music and Irish dancing with some special guests, all from the comfort of your living room this St Patrick’s Day
now in its twelfth year, the Global Greening initiative takes place once again, with hundreds of iconic landmarks and sites lighting up in green to mark our national day. The aim of 2021’s greening is to bring positivity and hope to the 70+ million people around the world who claim links to the island of Ireland. Along with many annual greening participants like Sydney Opera House, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Niagara Falls, 2021 will also feature greenings from The Palm Fountain in Dubai; the tallest building in South America, the Torre Costanera in Chile; and Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier, California
Bord Bia this year are placing particular importance on priority European and international markets. Their campaign this year will capitalise on the invaluable platform of St. Patrick’s Day to deliver key business development meetings, events and promotional campaigns that allow them to highlight Origin Green, Ireland’s industry and its producers, and to engage with new and existing customers around the globe
Culture Ireland this year has curated SEODA a special five-day festival enabling over 100 artists to reach global audiences from one stage – Culture Ireland’s YouTube channel
Education in Ireland are partnering with Tourism Ireland to extend their Global Greening to the Higher Education Sector. At a time when students cannot travel, this partnership will shine a green light in as many universities around the world as possible, giving students a sense of hope and connection to Ireland and each other. When the time is right, Tourism Ireland and Education Ireland will remind international visitors that Ireland is a great place to visit and study. Everyone is encouraged to join the #GlobalGreening from home by lighting a green candle on St Patrick’s night at 7pm and uploading it to their social media channels