Irish-Scottish Relations, past, present and future, Edinburgh's Festival of Ireland, 23 March 2017

It is always a pleasure to be back in Scotland again and I am delighted to speak at Edinburgh's Festival of Ireland. I had a most enjoyable diplomatic posting here between 1998 and 2001 and have fond memories of those years which were very happy ones for our family. Greta and I think fondly of our time here, as does our daughter, Tara, who has settled in Edinburgh, and our son, Jason, who spent more than a decade here.

For me, the key attraction of a fresh diplomatic posting is the challenge involved in understanding and interpreting the host country. It is important to approach a new assignment with an open mind and with a sense of curiosity. That was certainly the spirit with which I approached my assignment in Scotland. This effort of getting to know a new country invariably instils a lifelong interest in the affairs of that country and that has definitely been the case for me with Scotland. I have been back here many, many times since my posting to Edinburgh ended in 2001.

I am delighted to have our present Consul General, Mark Hanniffy, and the Vice Consul, Anne-Marie Flynn, here this evening. They are doing a superb job in carrying on the work I started here nearly 20 years ago.

When I arrived here in October 1998, Scotland was on the verge of achieving devolution and I was present when the Scottish Parliament was formally opened on the 6th of May 1999. I readily appreciated how important that political milestone was for Scotland.

At that time, Ireland was in the thick of our long economic boom which stretched from the mid-1990s to 2007 when things started to come unstuck for us and we entered into a period of economic difficulty from which we have now emerged with renewed economic growth, which measured 5.2% last year.

I remember those heady days when we arrived in Scotland to open our Consulate. Setting up a new diplomatic mission is a rare experience and I remember the buzz that surrounded our arrival as Ireland was the first country to respond to the Scottish devolution by establishing a diplomatic presence here.

There was a lot of interest in Ireland at that time. which was quite understandable given the similarities between us in population, land area, geographical location and cultural affinities. Our economic success was a particular source of fascination in post-devolution Scotland. Our economic dynamism at that time was a reversal of past patterns when Scotland had been an industrial success story and Ireland a relative under-performer.

I do recall, however, that some Scots I met retained a degree of scepticism about Ireland's emergence as a dynamic economy, doubting that the garden could be as rosy as our GDP figures suggested. Although I had long left Scotland by the time our economic downturn hit, those who doubted the miracle of the Celtic Tiger probably had an 'I told you so' moment in 2009/10. The strength of our recent economic recovery will no doubt spur further Scottish interest in the roots of Ireland's renewed success.

I found it interesting that Ireland hardly featured as an exemplar for Scotland during the 2014 referendum campaign. Indeed, there were occasional warnings pointing to the economic struggles Ireland had confronted in the decades after independence, albeit in very different circumstances after 1922 (in the wake of a war of independence and a biter civil war). Incidentally, the fact that Ireland did not become a bone of contention between Scottish nationalists and unionists during your referendum campaign was a source of relief to us. It would not have been pleasant had Ireland become a political football during that passionate period in Scottish politics.

Our Government rightly took a vow of silence on Scottish issues in the run-up to the referendum on the very good grounds that this was a domestic Scottish issue in which it would be impertinent of us to intervene. We took a different view during last year's EU referendum, because the EU is a Union to which Ireland belongs and we wanted our nearest neighbours to remain part of that unique community of European nations. Sadly, that was not to be and our task now is to manage the consequences of the UK's exit from the EU.

Past connections: But back to 1998. When I arrived in Scotland, it occurred to me that although I had studied Irish history for most of my life, Scotland had never been a particular interest of mine. At that time, I had spent decades reading, writing and thinking about Anglo-Irish relations but rarely giving any thought to Scotland. I have learnt my lesson. I now refer to British-Irish relations and of course am very conscious also of an important Scottish-Irish dimension.

This neglect of Scotland was perhaps inevitable. After all, 19th century Irish history in which I had specialised was dominated by efforts to undo the Act of Union in which the scene of the action was in Ireland or at the Westminster Parliament where Daniel O'Connell campaigned for the repeal of the Act of Union during the 1840s and Parnell and his allies pressed for Home Rule during the 1880s.

There was not much scope for Scotland to make its appearance in the Irish story with its broadly nationalist narrative. Until recent decades, Scottish history was in a very different groove. In order to see how Scotland has fared in Irish historiography, I had a look at two major works on Ireland's history, looking at their references to Scotland.

Thomas Bartlett's single volume history of Ireland published in 2010 contains a number of references to Scotland, which is perhaps to be expected because when the book was published Bartlett was a Professor at the University of Aberdeen.

Bartlett covers the monastic connection epitomised by St. Columba of Iona and makes the point that his move to the Hebrides should not be seen as 'a self-imposed exile' as in the 7th century the Irish Sea acted as 'a bridge between the territory of the Dál Ríata, which extended from Antrim to Argyll' and functioned as 'a corridor between north-east Ireland and Scotland.'

Probably the most intensive period of Irish-Scottish interaction came in the 17th century with the plantation of Ulster and during what Bartlett calls 'a parallel crisis of the three kingdoms' of England, Ireland and Scotland. This resulted in a Scottish army of 10,000 men under the command of Major-General Robert Munro being deployed in Ireland during the 1640s. This era of upheaval, which included Cromwell's campaigns in Ireland and Scotland, did not come to an end until the 1690s, by which time the Scottish presence in Ulster was well established.

In Bartlett's account, Scotland disappears from Irish history from the 18th century onwards although he does pick up an unusual vignette from the years of the Second World War when Ireland's Department of Agriculture astonishingly 'undertook to interview Irish girls in Dublin to ascertain their suitability for agricultural work in Scotland'. There must be many in today's Scotland who can trace their roots to those who passed through that particular interview process.

FSL Lyons's classic modern history, Ireland since the Famine, published in 1971 also contains some references to Scotland. These include the impact of two Scottish brothers, William and John Ritchie who were instrumental in establishing the shipbuilding industry in Belfast. He refers to the phenomenon of post-Famine emigration and the establishment of Irish communities in Scotland where, he maintains, a virulent anti-British sentiment developed. Those Irish emigrants were not always made welcome in the very different Scotland that existed in those days.

In the 1880s, the Ulster Loyalist Anti-Repeal Union looked to Scotland for support. One of its leading lights, James Henderson, looked to stir up religious feeling in Scotland so as to aid Ulster unionists in their struggle against Home Rule. On the other side of the Irish divide, the IRB endeavoured to organise itself in Scotland. These are all essentially passing references and my conclusion would be that, at least in the period covered by Lyons's book, Scotland was a marginal factor in Irish history

There is another way of gauging our historical links - through the Dictionary of Irish Biography. Of the 10,000 or so names that feature in the Dictionary, 132 were born in Scotland. They are a diverse crew - soldiers, academics, writers, clergymen, engineers businessmen and sports figures. Some are famous like 1916 leader, James Connolly, but others are largely forgotten today.

Here are some examples. John Arnott was born in Auchtermuchty in 1814 and moved to Ireland in the 1830s. By the time he died in 1898 he had become one of Ireland's leading businessmen and philanthropists, owner of a chain of Department stores one of which is still trading today, Arnotts of Henry Street, Dublin.

George Clarke who came from Paisley became a leading Ulster unionist and shipbuilder whose business career illustrated the importance of the Liverpool-Glasgow-Belfast triangle 'in the industrial growth of late Victorian Belfast' which had 'political as well as economic implications' as the economic development of the northeastern counties created an urban business and working class community with a vested interest in the Union.

A final example is John Jameson who moved from Clackmannanshire to Ireland in 1784 and in the process learned how to spell whiskey correctly! His name is being immortalised to this day on countless millions of Irish whiskey bottles sold all over the world.

There are many others I could mention, Margaret Skinnider, a Coatbridge woman who took part in the Easter Rising in a combat role; George Baillie, a pioneer of Irish golf; Wimbledon champion, and Edinburgh-born, Kerry landowner, Harold Sigerson Mahony; legendary Irish Times editor, Bertie Smyllie, who was born in Glasgow; Edinburgh-born 19th century feminist and reformer, Isabella Tod; publisher Alexander Thom, whose Irish Directory for 1904 was a key source for James Joyce when he was writing Ulysses; and Mary Tinney, the first woman to be appointed an Irish Ambassador.

There are also some interesting entries on those Irish who ended their lives in Scotland, a number of early medieval monks, Kenneth McAlpin, the first King of the Picts and Scots, the Glasgow Celtic footballer, Patsy Gallagher, who began his life in a workhouse in County Donegal, and someone I got to know when I was posted in Scotland, the rugby international Des O'Brien who won the Grand Slam with Ireland in 1948 and went on to manage the Lions on their four-month tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1966! Des was a fine man who spent 45 years of his life in Scotland and was an active sportsman into his 80s.

Present possibilities: The Irish Government’s decision to open a Consulate General in Scotland was taken in June 1998 shortly after the conclusion of the Good Friday Agreement and its approval by referendum. There were, I would say, two connected reasons behind this decision.

First, the Good Friday Agreement altered the relationship between Britain and Ireland as co-guarantors of the agreement. It affirmed the two Governments’ desire to develop still further “the unique relationship between their peoples” as friendly neighbours and partners within the EU

Second, it was realised in Dublin that, with the onset of Scottish and Welsh devolution, new political realities were about to dawn on our neighbouring island. Even without the incentive of the Good Friday Agreement, I believe we would have wanted to respond to the changed status of Scotland as a devolved entity with a sharper more distinctive political profile.

The Good Friday Agreement linked devolution with the NI peace process by providing for Scottish and Welsh membership of the British-Irish Council (BIC) and, indeed, envisaging bilateral relationships between BIC members. The BIC has taken on an enhanced relevance in light of last year's referendum result as a framework within which the various political entities on these islands can discuss matters of mutual interest.

The 20 years since 1998 have seen Irish-Scottish relations enter into a whole new and entirely positive era. The success of the NI peace process has removed a complicating factor from our relations. In the wake of the Good Friday Agreement, the Irish Government took seriously the East-West strand to that agreement and thus decided to establish consulates in Edinburgh and Cardiff.

The advent of devolution and the emergence of a Scottish Government has provided a focal point for political relations. It means that since 1999 Irish Ministers and politicians have had Scottish counterparts with whom they could deal. Scottish politicians started to attend meetings of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly and Ministerial-level meetings of the BIC, thus getting to know their fellow Ministers from Ireland.

Since the opening of our Consulate, Scotland has become an established part of the St. Patrick's Day circuit for Irish Ministers who travel the world promoting Ireland. I have personally been involved in two substantial visits to Scotland by Irish Presidents, President McAleese in 1999 and President Higgins last year. Ministerial visits in both directions are now a regular feature and First Minister Sturgeon was warmly welcomed in Dublin last year when she was invited to address our Seanad, a rare honour for visiting politicians.

Irish people took a keen interest in your referendum in 2014, which received substantial coverage in the Irish media. This reflects an enhanced awareness of Scotland and of its relevance to Ireland.

We have come to know Scotland, and the Irish community here, better in recent times. This is part of a growing Irish engagement with our global diaspora. We now have a dedicated diaspora Minister and an agreed government policy on the subject. As part of this process of engagement, we have become more conscious of the global spread of Irish emigrants and their descendants, and the diversity of their experience.

We know that the Irish came to Scotland in large numbers in the decades after the Famine and that things were not always easy for them. Today, perhaps up to 20% of the population of Scotland has an Irish background and our community is very much part of the fabric of modern Scotland. Their presence in every walk of Scottish life gives us a special connection with this country.

Another link that I was very conscious of during my time here is the link between our Gaeltacht and the Gaelic-speaking areas of Scotland, fostered through the Columba Initiative. Some of my most memorable times in Scotland were at Gaelic events at the Sabhal Mor Ostaig in Skye and on the northern tip of Lewis. There you can feel the age old cultural connections between our two countries. We occupy a shared cultural space with both countries exhibiting a beguiling blend of Celtic and contemporary cultural strands. Fittingly, Ireland will be the partner country for next year's 25th Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow.

Our economic links have also matured greatly in recent years with significant flows of trade, investment and tourism between us. Scottish exports to Ireland in 2015 amounted to some £1.1 billion while last year Irish-owned companies achieved record exports to Scotland. There is obvious potential for further export growth in both directions. The setting up of a Scottish Innovation Hub in Dublin last year is an important development. Here in Scotland, an Irish Business Network Scotland was established last year, pointing to the presence here of a significant business community dedicated to developing economic links between us.

Future challenges: There will be challenges ahead for everyone in light of the UK decision to leave the EU. Ireland has a unique relationship with the UK and did not want to see our 44 year partnership as EU members broken in this manner, but we now need to make the best of this new situation. The UK's exit from the EU has potential implications for Ireland, for our £1 billion per week trade with the UK, for Northern Ireland and the border in Ireland, and for Irish-UK relations.

We will be remaining in the EU and our aim in the coming period will be to minimise adverse impacts on Ireland. We hope that the UK will be able to negotiate a close partnership with the EU for the period after it ceases to be a member.

But let there be no mistake, a country that is outside the EU cannot enjoy all of the benefits of membership. There will inevitably be a price to be paid in terms of lost opportunities and reduced influence when the UK leaves the EU. Let me stress, however, that this has nothing to do with punishing the UK it is just the logical consequence of leaving the EU. By leaving the EU, the UK will gain the right to do certain things its own way, but will also lose the advantages of membership.

I take the view, however, that negotiations conducted in good faith, and with the political will to find common ground, are capable of arriving at a sensible set of arrangements to govern future UK-EU relations, although this will not be easy or straightforward.

As for the future of Irish-Scottish relations, as with the Irish-UK dimension, these will need to be conducted in a different setting. Our aim will be to keep our ties on the same positive path they've been on these last 20 years. We will seek to continue to trade actively and to maintain good political dialogue. People to people links and cultural affinities will also continue to draw on the many similarities between us.

Scotland's future is of course something that can only be settled here. Come what may, Ireland will continue to be a friend of Scotland. We understand , and sympathise with, the situation in which Scotland finds itself. I expect, however, that we will continue to watch developments here with great interest while refraining from comment or intervention of any kind. There clearly are lots of similarities between Ireland and Scotland and there are also areas where our experience and circumstances differ. There will be those on both sides of the Scottish debate that may seek to draw lessons from Ireland to bolster their arguments. Our experience is there to be examined, but it is not for us to interpret its relevance to others.

Concluding Remarks: This year is the 350th anniversary of the birth of Jonathan Swift, the fiercely talented Irish writer. In the early years of the 18th century, an argument broke between Swift and the English writer, Daniel Defoe. Scotland and the Act of Union of 1707 was their casus belli. While Defoe was an enthusiastic supporter of the English-Scottish Union, Swift did not care much for it, for he felt that it would result in the Scots being privileged over the Irish in the struggle for personal preferment in London.

An irate Swift, never a man to mince his words, declared that Scotland was “inhabited by a poor fierce Northern people”. He doubted if there was “one single advantage that England could ever expect from such a Union”.

The Scottish nobility were a particular target of Swift’s formidable scorn. He accused them of gathering more money on the back of the Union than ‘ever any Scotchman, who had not travelled could form an idea of’.

In his riposte to Swift, Defoe argued that England, and not Scotland, had been the suitor in 1707. The Union had made Scotland England’s equal. As for the Scottish nobility, they were, in Defoe’s eyes, a positive adornment to the Union. They had more than held their own in their contribution to Britain’s military effort in Europe. He was convinced that the Scots were spending more money on maintaining themselves in England than they received in pensions and allowances. The lines of argument between Swift and Defoe have a touching familiarity in their conflicting perceptions of the advantages, and the economics, of the Union.

Defoe’s partisan history of the 1707 Act of Union was reprinted by a Dublin publisher in 1799 as a contribution to the contemporary debate about the proposed Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland. That Union had a powerful impact on Ireland’s subsequent history just as the 1707 Act had on the evolution of Scotland’s story. Those who sponsored the Irish-British Union of 1801 must have hoped it would have an outcome similar to the Scottish-English Union of 1707 which in the late 18th century was working smoothly. The Irish Act of Union never succeeded in commanding support or anything more than reluctant, grudging acquiescence from the majority of the population of Ireland.

The 19th century Irish nationalist and land reformer, Michael Davitt had a very different view of Scotland from that adopted by the acerbic Swift. In his Memoirs, W.B. Yeats recalls a conversation he had with him in which Davitt professed a desire to abandon Irish politics and travel to Scotland to, as Yeats put it, ‘recover for Ireland as much of Scotland as was still Gaelic in blood or in language’. When I came to Scotland in 1998, it was certainly not part of my brief to seek to fulfil Davitt's dream!

While on the subject of Yeats, I recall some comments he made about Burns to the effect that ‘when a country produces a man of genius he is never what it wants; he is always unlike its idea of itself. Scotland believed itself religious, moral and gloomy and its national poet came to speak not of these things, but to speak of lust and drink and drunken gaiety’. This just shows that even great poets are not immune from the lure of stereotypes. My job as a diplomat is to combat such stereotypes, to deepen knowledge of Ireland and Irish interests around the world, and to build understanding and friendship across national frontiers - in this case with our Celtic neighbours and friends in Scotland.

Daniel Mulhall is Ireland's Ambassador in London