Tánaiste Simon Coveney and MoS Cannon welcome visitors to DFAT stand at NPC

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The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Coveney T.D. and Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development Ciarán Cannon T.D. are inviting visitors to this year’s National Ploughing Championships to discover how the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is helping to shape Ireland’s global footprint.

The DFAT stand at the National Ploughing Championships 2018 will highlight Ireland’s bilateral trading relationships, the work of our Consular Division and the Passport Service, our work in the EU, as well as the Irish Aid programme. Visitors will be invited to step into an Ambassador’s office, learn how we are marking 25 years of diplomatic relations with South Africa and apply for a passport direct from Ploughing, with free digital passport photographs available. We will have a special section with information on preparations for Brexit, as well as Irish Aid-themed activities such as African drumming workshops on the hour with a professional facilitator.

Speaking ahead of his attendance at the Championships, the Tánaiste said today:

“I am delighted to be visiting the National Ploughing Championships this year for the first time in my capacity as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. The National Ploughing Championships has developed into a hugely important trade and agribusiness fair, attracting international delegations as well as communities from all around Ireland.

I hope that as many visitors as possible will take the opportunity to find out more about our work in support of Ireland and its citizens at home and abroad. Much of this is entering a new phase as we take forward implementation of the Global Ireland initiative which the Taoiseach and I announced earlier this year.”

Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development, Ciarán Cannon, T.D. will also visit the National Ploughing Championships to highlight how the Department works with members of Ireland’s diaspora community around the world through our Emigrant Support Programme and how the Irish Aid programme is working for a world without poverty and hunger.

Minister Cannon commented today:

“This year marks the 25^th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Ireland and South Africa and also the centenary of Nelson Mandela’s birth. At the National Ploughing Championships we will present these and other elements of Ireland’s overall relationship with Africa and also how the work of Irish Aid remains at the heart of our foreign policy. I am particularly looking forward to hearing further views on how Ireland’s new international development policy should operate over the coming decade.

We will also be presenting on Ireland’s support for our citizens through the Department’s Emigrant Support Programme, including through our collaboration with the network of GAA clubs in Asia, and on the role of Ireland’s Embassies and Consulates as a first point of contacts to tens of thousands of Irish people across the continent.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

• The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s stand at the 2018 National Ploughing Championships will be located at Stand 290, Row 14, Block 2.

• The first in a series of Irish Aid-led public consultations on Ireland’s new international development policy took place earlier this week in Cork. The next public consultation events will take place over the coming weeks as follows (6.30pm-8.30pm in each case): 
  
   
  • Monday, 17th September - The Aula Maxima, NUI, Galway
  • Tuesday, 18th September - The Model, The Mall, Sligo 
  • Thursday, 20th September - The Strand Hotel, Limerick 
  • Tuesday, 2nd October - EPIC, The Irish Emigration Museum, The CHQ Building, North Wall Quay, Dublin 1

Members of the public can register to attend these events at www.irishaid.ie