St. Patrick's Day 2014

Ireland's Economic Diplomacy in Action

Over the 2014 St Patrick’s Day season, the Embassy network, in coordination with the State agencies, undertook an extensive programme of activity to support trade, tourism, investment and build Ireland’s positive reputation internationally.

This included:

• The Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Ministers led 30 trade-focussed visits over the St Patrick’s Day season. Irish Embassies and Consulates - mostly staffed by three or fewer diplomats - helped to deliver an average of 17 events and engagements each across 133 cities in 68 countries to promote Ireland.

• The Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Ministers and diplomats participated in 115 focussed company engagements with potential to support new commercial links, export opportunities or win new investments. €5m in immediate new business for Irish exporters was announced or secured during the visits over the season.

• The Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Ministers and Embassy network, together with the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and other State agencies promoted trade, tourism and investment in Ireland at 108 additional specific business events, attended by over 13,600 Irish and international company representatives.

• The Embassy network helped secure 76 ‘Greenings’ of iconic sites as part of the Tourism Ireland campaign across the world with huge media impact. The active engagement of the Embassy network was critical in securing a host of ‘Greenings’, including that of the Great Wall of China, the Treasury at Petra and the second-time Greenings of the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx, and the Statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro.

• Audiences of over 353,000 were reached at public diplomacy events hosted or supported by the Embassy network, or directly addressed by the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Ministers and the Embassy network. These provided an unrivalled opportunity to convey coordinated messages on tourism, trade and investment and to raise the positive profile of Ireland internationally. For the events organised by the Embassy network, Ireland Inspires and other promotional video materials as well as Bord Bia food-packs were prepared and distributed to missions.

• The Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Ministers and diplomats participated in 124 high-level political meetings arranged by the Embassy network.

• The Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Ministers and the Embassy network promoted key messages on trade, tourism and investment in op-eds and interviews in the international media – reaching, at a very conservative estimate, over 23.5 million people. When overseas media coverage of events that were part of the high level visits or supported by the Embassy network are added, wider audiences of at least 80 million people were reached.