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St Patrick's Day programme: what it means for the economy

St Patrick’s Day has always been a time to celebrate with our families and friends, but as we all know, in more recent years it has become a global event. In fact, this year Time Magazine called it the world’s most global national day – bigger even than the Fourth of July.

The Government’s ‘Promote Ireland’ programme of international activity aims to capitalise on this global attention by showcasing Ireland as a place to do business, to invest and create jobs and to visit.

TOUR_T_StPats_PresObama_ART Taoiseach Enda Kenny meets US President Barack Obama in the White House as part of a six-day visit to the United States

That’s why this week, the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and 27 Ministers have been taking part in over 200 business and high-level political events in 27 countries around the world.

To give you some sense of the scale of the impact, here’s some key numbers from last year’s St. Patrick’s Day programme: 

  • 13,600 Irish and international company representatives who attended over 100 business-focused events around the world for St Patrick’s Day.
  • 1.3 million views for the Ireland Inspires video produced by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Tourism Ireland
  • 80 million+ people around the world read or watched media coverage of Ireland during St. Patrick’s Day

What international audiences have been hearing about Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day

St Patrick's Day gives us an extraordinary opportunity to share good news about Ireland to investors, business people, consumers, potential tourists and the international media in the countries we trade with around the world. These are some of the key messages about Ireland which international audiences have been hearing this week:

  • 1st in the EU: Ireland was the fastest growing economy in the EU in 2014, and we expect to retain this leading position in 2015.
  • 1st in the Eurozone: we’re ranked as the best country in the Eurozone for business by Forbes magazine. Ireland remains a globally attractive destination for foreign direct investment with over 3,300 global companies employing over 256,000 people. Ireland’s exports are at a record high, with high growth rates by indigenous exporters in 2013 and 2014.
  • Top 5 globally: Ireland remains a great place to visit – one of the top 5 destinations in the world, according to the Lonely Planet 2015. There were over 7.6 million overseas visits to Ireland in 2014, up almost 9% on the previous year, which delivered €3.7 billion to the Irish economy.

Turning the World Green – one iconic landmark at a time

TOUR_greening_stpatscathedral  TOUR_greening_trinity

The St. Patrick’s Day Parade has been a tradition for years, and parades are taking place around the world attracting millions of spectators. But the newest tradition is Ireland’s attempt to turn the entire world green every 17th March.

As part of Tourism Ireland’s Global Greening initiative, more than 160 iconic landmarks went green to celebrate St Patrick’s Day – from the Grand Ol’ Opry in Nashville to the Great Wall of China and from the Leaning Tower of Pisa to Niagra Falls. For the first time ever, the Colosseum in Rome, the Sacré Cœur basilica in Paris and Edinburgh Castle went green as part of Global Greening.

Tourism Ireland's Global Greening initiative has grown from strength to strength. It began in 2010 with just the Sydney Opera House going green.