{"id":152942,"date":"2025-11-22T01:42:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T01:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/152942\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T01:42:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T01:42:14","slug":"taoiseach-in-buoyant-mood-as-ireland-joins-g20-top-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/152942\/","title":{"rendered":"Taoiseach in buoyant mood as Ireland joins G20 top table"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Aviva Stadium may be 13,500 miles away, but Andy Farrell\u2019s team\u2019s match against the World Cup-winning Springboks was not far from anybody\u2019s minds.<\/p>\n

Ireland and South Africa have a very strong relationship, ambassador Austin Gormley told an Enterprise Ireland and Bord Bia lunch at the Leonardo Hotel in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe relationship is only slightly dented by what happens on the rugby field,\u201d he quipped.<\/p>\n

The Taoiseach made sure to mention the big match in his own speech too, calling for the G20 presidency to screen Saturday night\u2019s match.<\/p>\n

However, the relationship between the two nations will remain strong, Mr Martin said, \u201cregardless of what happens in the Aviva\u201d.<\/p>\n

When sport is taken out of the equation, Ireland and South Africa do have a vibrant relationship.<\/p>\n

Ireland was opposed to apartheid in South Africa, with Dunnes Stores workers famously staging a three-year strike<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This led to Ireland banning the importation of South African goods.<\/p>\n

Strong trade between Ireland and South Africa<\/p>\n

Things have moved on significantly since then, with South Africa now both Ireland\u2019s largest export market in Africa and also its largest import market \u2014 worth \u20ac388m and \u20ac321m respectively.<\/p>\n

This included exports of \u20ac46m of whiskey and imports of \u20ac124m of platinum.<\/p>\n

There are also strong exchanges in sectors such as technology, financial services, and food and drink, with Irish companies creating 12,500 jobs in the country.<\/p>\n

Mr Martin said that Ireland had not lobbied or sought the invitation to the G20, but was \u201chonoured\u201d to receive it.<\/p>\n

Irish diplomats suggested that it was due to Ireland and South Africa\u2019s close relationship that the invitation arrived.<\/p>\n

Pre-G20 conference<\/p>\n

The Taoiseach was only one of two prime ministers, alongside Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr St\u00f8re, to address the Global Citizen Now conference.<\/p>\n

\"SabrinaSabrina Elba and Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin, speaking during Global Citizen Now conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Friday. Mr Martin was one of only two heads of government invited to address the conference. Picture: Jemal Countess\/Getty\/Global Citizen<\/p>\n

The event is hosted by South African prime minister Cyril Ramaphosa and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.<\/p>\n

Mr Martin spoke at length during a ‘fireside chat’ about how Ireland\u2019s renewable energy system has \u201cundergone a significant transformation\u201d.<\/p>\n

He underlined the importance of having a good planning process and \u201cbringing communities with you\u201d.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, he did not start off on his usual spiel about the number of people submitting judicial reviews, nor did he mention the chronic delays in the planning system that are stifling our infrastructure delivery.<\/p>\n

Renewable energy\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unlike Ireland, renewable energy is lagging majorly behind in South Africa, the conference\u2019s audience was told.<\/p>\n

Mr Ramaphosa highlighted that 40% of Africa\u2019s population has no access to electricity, with Ms von der Leyen saying that investment was needed so that \u201cchildren can do their own work after dark\u201d and food and medicines can be kept fresh.<\/p>\n

Discussions will continue along these lines at the G20 summit today, Saturday, where there will be talks on inclusive and sustainable economic growth and world resilience.<\/p>\n

Time out for rugby?\u00a0<\/p>\n

The leader\u2019s dinner will take place that evening, with the Taoiseach hoping that Mr Ramaphosa will roll out the television at 7.40pm local time for the Ireland vs South Africa rugby match.<\/p>\n

\"'I\u2019m‘I\u2019m Taoiseach of the country!’ Miche\u00e1l Martin retorted when asked what he thought of the decision not to start Munster’s Jack Crowley, a fellow Cork man, against the Springboks. Brian Lawless\/PA<\/p>\n

However, as Mr Martin proved on Friday, he can even make sports political when the Munster man was asked what he thought about Leinster\u2019s Sam Prendergast starting at 10 rather than Munster\u2019s fly-half Jack Crowley.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m Taoiseach of the country!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a little pub on an outpost in Butlerstown. There\u2019s a photograph of Jack Crowley, and a photograph of yours truly up on the wall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Martin later shouted out to the media that both men were \u201cexceptional players\u201d.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s hope that Mr Martin can be as diplomatic with his South African counterparts after the match.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Aviva Stadium may be 13,500 miles away, but Andy Farrell\u2019s team\u2019s match against the World Cup-winning Springboks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[54046,61,60,1843,43,86273,48908,86272],"class_list":["post-152942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-irish-rugby","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-micheal-martin","tag-news","tag-organisation-g20","tag-place-ireland","tag-place-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}