Welsh Trade Mission to Ireland

SaySomethingin celebrated St David’s Day in Dublin as part of a week-long Welsh Government Trade Mission to Ireland.

Following our desire to apply SSi methodology to indigenous and endangered languages, we enrolled on the Mission to explore possibilities with the Irish language.

The Welsh Minister for Education and Language, Jeremy Miles, was also in Dublin to promote the importance of increasing the use of Irish and Welsh languages. He visited a Dublin primary school that was teaching Welsh to its pupils and spoke with real heart about the importance of language in all aspects of culture.

We visited both Dublin and Galway and were fortunate enough to meet Irish language providers, bi-lingual universities and government officials that are the major influencers for the teaching of Irish at every level.

We really hope that we can work with these wonderful people to achieve in Ireland for Irish what we have done in Wales for Welsh. There is a long way to go and we have a lot to learn but we hope this mission is the start of a long partnership with our new friends in Ireland.

In addition to the meetings, we were treated to cultural events and musical performances that celebrated the Irish and Welsh cultures around St David’s Day.

The Dublin Welsh Male Voice choir sang to us, bringing many to tears. Then the Irish violinist, Aoife Ni Bhriain, and Welsh harp legend, Catrin Finch, combined to share some mind-blowing original renditions that received a standing ovation!

We must thank Export Wales and the Dublin-based Welsh Government Trade team that organised so much and looked after us so well.