Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee, 10 Rhagfyr 2025 | Open Senedd

Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee, 10 Rhagfyr 2025 | Open Senedd

Denise McQuade

I think it's really fantastic to see how the relationship between Wales and Ireland has strengthened and deepened over the past four years. I've been here since 2022, and the level of engagement has grown year on year.

I think it's particularly striking in the political relationship. We've had the annual Ireland-Wales forum, which is one of the commitments in the shared statement. That's taken place four times now—twice in Ireland, twice in Wales—with successive Tánaistí, our deputy head of Government, with the First Minister each time, and with attendance from other relevant sectoral Ministers as well. That's been a marvellous opportunity for those senior political leaders to get together.

We've also had St Patrick's and St David's Day visits in both directions—I think three each way over the past couple of years. Those have also proved an excellent opportunity for Ministers to meet their counterparts and to do quite a wide-ranging programme with economic, cultural and community engagements in both countries. I think that's been one really big, positive development over the last few years.

An outworking of that was really evident this time last year when the port of Holyhead closed due to storm Darragh. The depth of ministerial and official contact in the immediate aftermath was really valuable, but also since then, through the Welsh Government's taskforce on Irish sea connectivity, which our Minister of State, Seán Canney, participated in, which I participated in, which officials from the Department of Transport participated in. As a result of that, first of all we now have a really excellent group of contacts across all sectors in touch with each other when anything happens to that connectivity, but also there's going to be ongoing ministerial and official contact as a direct result of the close contacts built up.

That's the final piece, I think, that official-level contact between Ireland and Wales over the past couple of years. I work very closely with the Welsh Government here and with the Welsh Government office in Dublin. I would like in particular to acknowledge that co-operation with the Welsh Government office and the work that they have done, particularly on the economic and innovation links.

If you look in the new shared statement, you'll see an example of co-operation on cyber security, and that was something that was very much driven by the Welsh Government office in Dublin. Similarly, there was a really excellent aerospace visit in both directions at the start of this year. Again, that was something that they worked on with Enterprise Ireland and brought to fruition. So, I just would like to give credit to them for the role they've played, as I say, particularly on those economic links.

Dim cyfieithiad Cymraeg wedi'i gyhoeddi09:31Gwylio #Cofnod swyddogol

Denise McQuade

There have been a number of things done over the last couple of years. I think the last time I saw you, I was probably talking about the end of INTERREG and the challenges that that posed. That has been complex. There have been ongoing discussions about how do we try and bridge the gap as best we can after the end of INTERREG, acknowledging that it was a very large sum of money that neither Government has.

A number of different things have happened. I think one really important one has been the DISC project, the Developing Irish Sea Co-operation project. It's a PEACEPLUS project, which involves Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. That's been managed by the Southern Regional Assembly, which is the body in Ireland that also was responsible for INTERREG. Agile Cymru and the Welsh Government were really involved in getting that up off the ground as well. I think this is really beneficial, because we've got this first PEACEPLUS project, which supports that co-operation.

The Southern Regional Assembly has also been given a role in supporting co-operation more widely with Wales. There isn't specific funding for this, but they are the people who have worked extensively with Wales through INTERREG. So, in terms of anyone else in Government in Ireland who wants to do something with Wales, the Southern Regional Assembly has been formally given a role to assist and help co-ordinate, so that's really valuable.

On the research side, the research alliance award that was launched late last year—or was it early this year—between Wales Innovation Network and Research Ireland has been really valuable. That's a direct result of the UK's reaccession to Horizon. That's a pot of funding for projects that are almost ready to apply for Horizon funding, to get that up and running, get those kinds of joint projects going again. Then, more recently, the Government of Ireland's funding through the Royal Irish Academy for early career researchers is something to help build up those early links.

I suppose in one sense, that's not one pot of money for the shared statement, it's a couple of different things—a couple of different co-ordination frameworks, a couple of different funding streams. From our perspective, we did look at it. There wasn't an easy way of setting up one funding mechanism for Ireland-Wales co-operation. But I think, with those different things we have going on, added to things like Culture Ireland for touring artists and other arts funding that is available, there is a good range of support now available for people who want to work on that kind of co-operation.

Dim cyfieithiad Cymraeg wedi'i gyhoeddi09:42Gwylio #Cofnod swyddogol

Denise McQuade

I wouldn't necessarily agree that it has a narrower focus. I think what we tried to do, and I was very involved with colleagues in Dublin and with colleagues from here in the Welsh Government office in Dublin as well—. If you look at the six focus areas of the shared statement 2030, they're largely the same as those in the shared statement joint action plan 2021-25, and, actually, a couple of them have been expanded. So, where we had 'climate and sustainability', we now have 'climate, energy, environment and sustainability'. Similarly, we had 'education and research'—we've added 'innovation' to that. Those additions were made because they reflected the nature of the discussions we'd had, particularly at the Ireland-Wales forum, and the work that we'd identified that needs to be done in the period ahead.

But we also tried, I suppose, to take a more strategic approach. So, I think the first shared statement was almost a compendium of existing co-operation, and it reflected the point in time when the consulate had only opened two years previously. So, we were still—both Governments were still—in a period of trying to identify, 'Okay, where are the areas that we already have co-operation going on? What are the things we can do?' I think we have the experience of the last five years and we can see—. We tried to identify those things where the two Governments really needed to work together.

We also tried, as I say, to take a more strategic approach, so that we have the overarching goals but not necessarily every single activity. So, I wouldn't, if I were any organisation that was mentioned explicitly in the last shared statement—. If they're not mentioned now, that does not in any way mean that we don't value their partnership. Quite the contrary. It's more that they're organisations that are independent of Government, and we really value their partnership, we want to support the partnership, but the work they do is part of a bigger picture of working together.

We really tried to draft it so that it would facilitate existing co-operation. Just to give an example of that, we've mentioned co-operation at regional and local authority level. We don't want to be telling local authorities to co-operate. We know how busy they are, how strapped for resources they are. At the same time, there is an existing twinning between Swansea and Cork. Rosslare and Fishguard just twinned as well. So, we want those cities that have those partnerships, and those regions and towns that have those partnerships, to know that we value that co-operation.

Similarly, the partnership between Urdd Gobaith Cymru and Coláiste Lurgan, the broader reference to initiatives that facilitate co-operation between youth organisations is very much intended to support that, but we don't want anyone reading it to think that that kind of partnership is limited to the Urdd and Coláiste Lurgan. If there are other things that can happen, we'd love to see that too.

Dim cyfieithiad Cymraeg wedi'i gyhoeddi09:46Gwylio #Cofnod swyddogol

Denise McQuade

Thank you. I agree, there are quite a large number of action points, but there are only six headline goals. So, I think those action points, if we look at them—. I'm trying to remember how did we describe them. We set it out in such a way—. The headline topic—why is this important, what do we want to achieve—and then, those action points, as you call them—how will we do that. So, we very deliberately didn't give very specific actions; those are things that will be agreed with Ministers at the annual forum. So, they will give us our direction for the next 12 months each year, but all in pursuit of these larger, overarching goals.

In terms of consultation, basically, the Irish side did the consultation with the Irish stakeholders, and Welsh Government did the consultation with the Welsh stakeholders. From our side, it was mostly my colleagues in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Dublin that consulted, with quite detailed consultations with other Irish Government departments but also with external stakeholders. And it covered language, trade, housing, education, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, local government. And some of those consultations are—. Those consultations are all reflected in the subject matter that is in the shared statement. I think there's nothing in there where—. Well, to be fair, we never encountered anyone who said, 'No, don't include us', I think it's fair to say. But I think we tried very hard—. And there were probably points where we tweaked the language a bit just to make sure that stakeholders didn't think we were asking them to do something that they couldn't do.

And I think also the case studies that are in the new shared statement, they reflect some of the existing work that has taken place over the last five years. And again, stakeholders would have known that those case studies were going to be included as examples in the shared statement. So, I hope that that answers the question. I'm not sure I've entirely answered it.

Dim cyfieithiad Cymraeg wedi'i gyhoeddi09:50Gwylio #Cofnod swyddogol

Denise McQuade

Well, I hesitate to make recommendations to a committee, but I think, from the perspective of the two Governments, the areas where we see that we really need to focus our efforts are, first of all, on energy. There's huge potential. We've spoken about energy and renewable energy at every Ireland-Wales forum, I think, and as we see the development of offshore wind becoming more real—. We now have ESB Energy as one of the companies involved in Gwynt Glas, the floating offshore wind project off the coast of Wales. So, we need to continue to work together on things like ports' supply chain skills so that we can make that floating offshore wind a reality, and something that benefits both Ireland and Wales.

I think education and research innovation is another area where there's potential. That's part of why we have found some funding for that area. It's the area where there was so much activity before the UK left the EU, where you really see that shortfall from INTERREG. For us, we see that the connections are still there at that senior academic level. So, it's trying to keep those going and trying to build the new ones.

And then, I think the third one, actually, is language, where, in a sense, the co-operation on language is because there is so much co-operation, there is so much benefit, there is so much to be learned. Ireland really sees Wales as a model and as an example in its promotion of the Welsh language. We want to learn from that. There is huge enthusiasm in Ireland for the Irish language. So, everything we can learn from Wales and Wales's experience over, I suppose, the last 20 years or so, we'd like to learn that. There was a great visit last week from Dublin City Council, who had a group of councillors and officials visiting Cardiff. They were really impressed with what they saw here. I've spoken to some of them since. They have further projects in mind.

Those are the three big areas where we really see the huge benefits of co-operation. That's not to say, though—. I mean, all six areas are important. And I suppose, for the Senedd, what I've found so inspiring and so wonderful over the last couple of years is the development of those close links between the Senedd and the Oireachtas. There were links that were always there through the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly, but through the work of this committee visiting Ireland, the Ceann Comhairle visiting here, and the meeting with a cross-committee group, which some of you participated in, and the return visit then to Dublin, those kinds of inter-parliamentary links are so valuable and so helpful to Government as well in terms of having that parliamentary support and that parliamentary scrutiny for the work that we're doing.

So, I really hope that the next Senedd will continue that work. I've engaged with Senedd Members from across all political parties in this Senedd, and I think the debate on this committee's report—the last report two years ago—I found that really encouraging, because what I heard from across the political spectrum in Wales was encouragement for working together with Ireland. So, I really hope we'll see that continue.

Dim cyfieithiad Cymraeg wedi'i gyhoeddi09:59Gwylio #Cofnod swyddogol