UK-Ireland Summit 2026 - Remarks by Taoiseach Micheál Martin at the reception to celebrate cultural ties between Ireland and the UK Cork City Hall, 12 March

UK-Ireland Summit 2026 - Remarks by Taoiseach Micheál Martin at the reception to celebrate cultural ties between Ireland and the UK Cork City Hall, 12 March

• From: Department of the Taoiseach

• Published on: 12 March 2026
• Last updated on: 12 March 2026

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A dhaoine uaisle agus a chairde. Tá an-áthas orm bheith anseo libh anocht.

Prime Minister, Lord Mayor, our MC Mary McCarthy, Ministers, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, friends.

It is a great pleasure to be here with Prime Minister Keir Starmer to celebrate Irish - British shared ties in my home city.

I am especially delighted to host this reception in Cork City Hall, where I started my political career, a short number of years ago.

Huge thanks to Eliza Carthy and Niamh Regan for that powerful musical collaboration. Your performance was a living demonstration of the vibrant cultural exchange taking place on a daily basis across these islands, enriching all our lives.

I'm looking forward to hearing more from the members of the Cork Youth Orchestra, who have already provided such beautiful music this evening, a little later.

I'd like to say a special word of thanks to our MC this evening, Mary McCarthy. Mary's inspirational leadership of our national cultural institution here in the heart of Cork, Crawford Art Gallery, includes a major capital redevelopment which will be transformational for the gallery and the city.

I also want to welcome those other directors of the cultural institutions from both sides of the Irish Sea who are joining us this evening.

Our national cultural institutions, and UK counterparts, play a central role in the life of our communities, in our cultural and economic wellbeing, our civic pride, our societal resilience.

When Prime Minister Starmer and I met in Liverpool in March last year, we agreed to establish a strategic partnership to deepen and amplify co-operation between our leading cultural institutions, and to support wider public engagement with the culture and heritage of both our countries.

That is because it is in the artistic and cultural space more than any other that our relationship is renewed and recreated every day through music, theatre, comedy, cinema, in curation and research, and so much more.

The contribution of Irish culture and creativity to Britain is extraordinary, as is the contribution of British culture and creativity in Ireland today.

As part of the UK-Ireland 2030 programme, I'm very pleased that today we can announce €5 million in funding for twelve new partnership projects involving our National Cultural Institutions and key cultural organisations in the UK.

The projects being supported include co-productions in theatre and music, shared research on material held in our respective national archives and national libraries, and the organisation of shared exhibitions in visual art.

There is also a shared initiative to support access to cultural venues by persons with disabilities across Ireland and the UK.

Prime Minister, this is, of course, a particularly important week culturally for us in Ireland as we approach St Patrick's Day. It is also Seachtain na Gaeilge, Irish language week.

Ba mhaith liom, mar sin, a Phríomhaire, fáilte mhór Chorcaí a chur romhat, i dteanga duchais na tíre seo, Agus is fáilte ó chroí í.

Keir, you are welcome here in any language!

I was delighted when you agreed to come to Cork for our UK-Ireland Summit taking place tomorrow.

Few relationships are as deep, as layered, or as enduring as the ties between Cork and the communities of the United Kingdom.

Generations of Irish people departed for Britain- seeking work, opportunity, or refuge - and in doing so, they built bridges of family, culture and commerce that endure to this day.

It was very fitting then, that when the late Queen Elizabeth came on a state visit to Ireland in 2011, Cork was a central part of that transformational moment in the history of our two countries.

Today the trade between our two countries is worth more than €2 billion a week. And Cork is a key part of that exceptional success story.

Our links are economic as well as personal. Cork's agri-food, pharmaceutical, maritime and tech sectors work hand in hand with partners across Britain.

From small family exporters in West Cork to the research labs of the Tyndall Institute, University College Cork, and Munster Technological University, collaboration with UK counterparts helps to drive innovation, jobs, and prosperity on both islands.

And then there is sport - where rivalry exists alongside friendship, and passion runs deep. I had the great pleasure of seeing this in action in Twickenham three weeks ago. And of course I wish England the best of luck this weekend, when I hope they can do their part to help us achieve a famous Six Nations victory!

The relationship between Ireland and the UK is shaped by geography, history, family ties, trade, and a shared responsibility for peace and prosperity in Northern Ireland.

This renewed spirit of cooperation is reflected in this process, our now annual summit, first held in Liverpool in March last year and taking place tomorrow here in Cork.

At the heart of our renewed engagement are the shared ambitions set out in the UK-Ireland 2030 Joint Statement.

As we look to 2030, our task is clear: to deepen cooperation in the areas that matter most to our citizens such as infrastructure delivery, especially housing; clean energy, climate action, research and innovation, the cost of living; readying our economies and our workers for the industries of the future, protecting our critical infrastructure, including under our seas.

In all of this, crucially, we are working together from a sense of shared values whether that is in international cooperation, in Northern Ireland or is shaping a fairer, more prosperous future for all across these islands.

As we gather, we are conscious also that this is a changing, more uncertain, and more unsettled world. In that context, the case for an active, engaged and close partnership between our two countries has never been greater.

Relationships matter.

The Irish-British relationship matters greatly to all of us here this evening, and those we represent. Let us take this moment to recognise and celebrate it.

Go raibh maith agaibh.