Speech by Taoiseach Micheál Martin at the Global Ireland Summit

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A dhaoine uasail,

I am delighted to be here this afternoon for the Global Ireland Summit and to see so many leaders drawn from every section of our society gathered together to discuss our country’s place in the world.

There is no denying that we gather at a particularly challenging and uncertain time for our world.

The change we are experiencing is unprecedented, both in terms of its pace as well as its impact.

The aim today is to explore Ireland’s place in this rapidly changing world and how we can position ourselves so that we can influence it positively and in line with our national interests and values.

The last time I spoke to this gathering as Taoiseach was in 2022. It was just over one year since the UK officially left the EU, we were emerging from the COVID pandemic and the world was grappling with the consequences of Russia’s brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine only two months previously.

At that time, we were also four years into the implementation of the government’s Global Ireland Strategy 2025.

As we come to the conclusion of this strategy, it is a good moment to assess its impact. To ask: Did we achieve what we set out to do? Is Ireland better placed today to deal with the global turbulence of the last number of years?

A full review of the Global Ireland Strategy will be published later this year in which we will seek to answer these questions but today I would like to highlight some stand out results to date.

In examining these results, I want to reflect on the international context and the challenges and opportunities facing us as we look to the next chapter in our Global Ireland ambition.

I want to initiate a collective reflection of what that next chapter should be as we look beyond the 2025 Strategy and begin work on a new Strategy as committed to in the Programme for Government, Securing Ireland’s Future, agreed in January.

In 2018, with the adoption of the Global Ireland Strategy 2025, we set the ambitious goal of doubling the scope and impact of Ireland’s global footprint in the period to 2025.

The Strategy set a range of inter-related and mutually reinforcing objectives and targets in order to achieve this aim.

The Strategy’s very ambitious programme required a Team Ireland, all of government approach.

Its success also depended on working with key stakeholders, many of whom are in this room today.

Overall, looking back on the work we have all done in the last 6 years, I think that we can be positive about what we have achieved.

We have significantly expanded Ireland’s global footprint.

Over the lifetime of the strategy, Ireland has opened twenty-two new missions around the world, with five more announced and due to open next year – exceeding our target.

This diplomatic expansion has been complemented by additional State Agency presence in twenty-one locations - eight new Enterprise Ireland offices; ten new IDA Ireland offices; and one new office each for Bord Bia, Screen Ireland and Tourism Ireland.

Resources at strategic locations such as New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Brussels and Washington DC have been strengthened and deepened.

Significant progress has been made on rolling out the Ireland House model in new missions and strategically important markets.

Four Ireland Houses were recently delivered in Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm and New York. Seven more are either in construction or in planning with our flagship Ireland House in Tokyo just completed.

These Ireland Houses offer a tangible demonstration of Team Ireland, a one-stop-shop for all parts of the Irish system, maximising impact in host countries and value for Irish taxpayers at home.

Irish arts centres have also been established or received substantial new investment, including in New York, Paris and London, expanding our capabilities to promote Irish culture around the world.

This expanded global footprint has strengthened Ireland’s bilateral relations and partnerships, which have proved vital in helping Ireland to effectively navigate an increasingly challenging geopolitical and international trading environment.

The Strategy has delivered six ‘whole-of-government’ action plans for strategically important regions of the world - US and Canada; Africa; Latin American and the Caribbean; the Nordic-Baltic Region, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East and North Africa.

In addition, the government adopted two country-specific strategies, Germany and France. These two strategies led for the first time to jointly agreed plans of action, further enhancing our relationships with two key EU partners.

A core objective of the Global Ireland Strategy is promoting Ireland’s values and interests in a dynamic geopolitical environment.

A major deliverable was a successful campaign for a seat on the UN Security Council, which saw Ireland serve as a rotating member in 2021-2022.

Throughout our membership, Ireland was an inclusive, ambitious, and responsive member.

At the centre of this work was our commitment to the rules-based international order which is essential for small states like Ireland to thrive and prosper.

Our multilateral engagement also provides the best conditions to realise Ireland’s overseas priorities. For example, since 2018 Official Development Assistance (ODA) across the government has increased significantly from €791.6 million in 2018, to €2.6 billion in 2023.

Ireland’s global leadership on development issues such as hunger also facilitates deeper collaboration at the UN, EU and with other partners such as the UK.

Since 2018, Ireland has also established a positive reputation on climate issues, including through our commitment in our International Climate Finance Roadmap, to increasing Ireland’s climate finance to at least €225 million per year by 2025, from approximately €90 million in 2020.

An initial context for the Global Ireland strategy was the UK’s decision to leave the EU, and the consequent need to diversify Ireland’s markets and international relationships.

The Strategy set the target of doubling growth in IDA-supported project investments from non-US markets in the period 2018-2024.

It also aimed to accelerate diversification of export markets by Enterprise Ireland clients, increasing the diversification of client exports into new markets, with at least 70% of exports going beyond the UK by 2025.

For the tourism sector, the Strategy set the goal of tripling revenues from developing markets, including China, to €600 million a year by 2025, and doubling revenue from both the US and German markets by 2025.

It also set the target of increasing the economic output value of international education to the Irish economy to €2.7 billion per annum by 2025 and doubling the number of Government of Ireland scholarships to 120 per annum by 2025.

Despite many head winds, including the COVID pandemic, progress towards these targets is on track and their achievement will be fully assessed as part of our final review of the 2025 Strategy later this year.

The Global Ireland Strategy is also about supporting our citizens.

Under it, the government adopted Ireland’s Diaspora Strategy 2020 to 2025, which has seen over its lifetime a continual enhancement of connections with the diaspora.

Irish community groups throughout the world have received funding through the government’s Emigrant Support Programme, amount to €60 million in grants since the launch of the Diaspora Strategy.

Dear friends,

I believe, therefore, that the Global Ireland Strategy 2025 is delivering on its ambition.

It remains the most ambitious renewal and expansion of Ireland’s international presence ever undertaken in terms of diplomacy, culture, our diaspora, business, overseas development aid, tourism and trade.

It has covered a period of heightened global turbulence.

The global pandemic had immense international impact, both immediate and sustained, for countries and communities around the world.

Conflicts and wars are causing immense instability and hardship for millions. The targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure is a particular feature of these conflicts.

Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine unleashed a conflict that has persisted for more than three years, and that has resulted in serious loss of life, widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and a renewed focus on security and defence across Europe.

It has posed a serious challenge to the rule of international law and has resulted in increased price increases for energy and food with consequences that have been felt far beyond Europe.

I hope that current efforts to secure a ceasefire are successful and can lead to a just and lasting peace for Ukraine, in line with the UN Charter.

Ireland, with our EU partners, will continue our steadfast support for Ukraine. This is not only the right thing to do, but it is our fundamental interest.

The horrific and unjustified attack by Hamas on Israel on 7 October 2023 has been followed by the brutal waging of war by Israel in Gaza, that has inflicted appalling suffering on Palestinians in Gaza while increasing tensions in an already damaged and fragile region.

There must be an immediate ceasefire, the release of all remaining hostages and the resumption of unhindered humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza and at an unprecedented scale.

It has been over fifty days since food, medicines and other essential supplies have not been allowed enter Gaza. Israel’s continuing humanitarian blockade is pushing Gaza closer to a hunger crisis. This must be lifted immediately.

It is simply wrong, in principle and in law, to inflict hunger and suffering on a civilian population, whatever the circumstances. This behaviour clearly constitutes a war crime. It is also wholly unacceptable to contemplate the mass displacement of people in Gaza or to talk of permanent occupation. Not only is it an affront to decency and to international law, history tells us it offers no solution.

Ireland remains convinced that the implementation of a two-State solution is the only way to establish lasting peace and security for both Israel and Palestine, and the wider region. We will continue to work with international partners to step up our efforts to achieve that goal.

Last week marked the 100-days-in-office of the new Administration in the United States. The US is, and will always remain, a vital partner for Ireland, one with which we have deep-rooted ties – ties that pre-date the independence of both of our countries.

The modern relationship is one of deep interconnection, including in a mutually beneficial economic relationship.

The approach of the new Administration to global trade has unleashed enormous uncertainty across the world.

Ireland earns its living from an open and fair approach to world trade. We value the rules-based international order that is necessary to underpin it.

We do not believe that unilateral action is the way to resolve difference on trade; and we do not believe that tariffs solve problems. Dialogue solves problems.

Trade wars are not win-lose, where one side can emerge victorious. Trade wars are lose-lose. Those initiating them, those responding, and those enduring the consequences – consumers and enterprises alike – all lose.

The EU is a fair, principled and reliable trading partner. But if there are issues of difference, let us work to resolve them at the negotiating table. We welcome the ninety day pause for negotiations on those issues. The EU and Ireland are up for agreement, and I am still hopeful for a resolution.

Recent events have underscored how vulnerable world markets are to turbulence and volatility. Even if current differences are resolved, there will not be a return to the status quo ante.

While Ireland has benefitted from a more open and globalised world, we will have to adjust to the more uncertain world in which we now find ourselves.

We will continue to advocate for an ambitious world trade agenda. We believe trade not only brings economic benefits, it helps lift people and countries out of poverty, and it contributes to a more stable and predictable world.

But we will also work with partners to support a more self-reliant EU.

In today’s world, we agree that the EU needs to take more responsibility for its own welfare and prosperity – improving its competitiveness and driving a meaningful programme of regulatory reform – but also doing more to ensure its own security and that of its citizens.

Ireland is and will remain militarily neutral, but we also need to play an active part in the conversation about how we can better counter new threats we face together.

Geography no longer offers the same protection in a world where cyber and hybrid attacks can strike our infrastructure, our democratic institutions, or the undersea cables on which our modern interconnected world relies.

This is a time to cooperate more closely with like-minded partners who share our interests and our values.

I am very pleased that our relationship with the UK, our nearest neighbour, is on a positive trajectory. I welcome the personal commitment that Prime Minister Starmer has brought to the task.

I very much look forward to the first EU-UK Summit since Brexit that will take place on 19 May. I hope it will result in a positive outcome and future programme of work.

For Ireland, a positive and cooperative relationship between the EU and the UK is essential for the pursuit of many areas of national interest, and an important factor in stability in Northern Ireland.

We share so many significant interests with the UK in areas such as trade, energy security, maritime security, cybersecurity and connectivity.

In this new world, Ireland will maintain its role as a strong advocate the rules-based international order, with the UN at its centre.

We are committed to sustainable development, climate justice and international law and have set out our firm belief that the global community will only be able to rise to the challenges the world faces if it acts in concert.

That said, though, there is no sugar coating it: with more aggression in relations between large world powers, with a more assertive approach from countries like China and India, the institutions that have helped underpin global political, security and financial security in recent decades are under real pressure.

These changing global dynamics will continue to have significant consequences for Ireland and our place in the world in coming years.

I believe we were better equipped to weather the storms of recent years because of the investments we made under the Global Ireland 2025 Strategy – doubling-down on our commitment to international cooperation, strengthening our partnerships and growing our global footprint.

A strong and more diversified presence in the world has helped us to pursue and protect our interests and promote our values in difficult times.

The Strategy is now in its final year and it is time to consider what comes next.

In the Programme for Government we have committed ourselves to a new strategy to cover the period to 2040 that will outline an overarching masterplan for further enhancing our place and influence in international affairs, including ever deeper relations with our EU partners.

Having such a strategy is essential to protect our interests and our people into the future.

At a time when some are turning in on themselves – in ways a natural human reaction to the great sea of challenges we face – Ireland will continue to engage and to look outwards as the best way to protect ourselves.

It is an approach that has served us well and that has helped us to find and secure our place in the world.

We have always been a global people and we have become a Global Ireland, whether seen through our unbroken service to UN peacekeeping; through the four times we have served with distinction as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council; through the work of Irish Aid and our outstanding NGOs who have worked tirelessly to support sustainable development and to protect the world’s most vulnerable people.

They are a source of real pride for the entire nation.

It is demonstrated by our economy which is one of the most open and globalised in the world, drawing strength from its absolute adherence to rule of law and reliability.

And it is lived out in our membership of the European Union which amplifies our freedom, underpins our economic security, and gives us an equal voice in a community of richly diverse nations and cultures.

Now, more than ever, is a time to stand firm on our values, stay true to our beliefs.

In shaping the new Global Ireland Strategy to take us to 2040 we will continue to be ambitious and outward-looking.

We will continue to implement and enhance whole-of-government strategies covering Latin America, Asia-Pacific, including China, US-Canada and Africa.

We will continue to develop Ireland’s presence around the world, with the expansion of the successful Team Ireland and Ireland House concepts.

We will develop a strategy to map, support and tell the story of Irish investment overseas.

We will develop a new Diaspora Strategy to ensure that the new generation and profile of emigrants finds voice and representation, and that we continue to build, as well as to sustain, our connections with Irish people throughout the world.

We will continue to work actively to preserve, strengthen and deepen the European Union, including through a properly-resourced and effective Irish Presidency of the EU in the second half of 2026.

And we will continue to work to strengthen our political, cultural, economic and trade relationship with the US at all levels.

Even if others step back, Ireland will continue to engage.

I invite everyone in this room to make your contribution to help shape the next chapter in the Global Ireland ambition – to succeed we need your active participation.

Thank you for coming today and thank you for your continued support and work.

I look forward to continue to engage and cooperate with you in the months and years ahead.

Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.