{"id":161064,"date":"2025-11-26T17:59:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T17:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/161064\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T17:59:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T17:59:12","slug":"john-swinney-hails-irelands-journey-as-stronger-scottish-irish-ties-planned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/161064\/","title":{"rendered":"John Swinney hails Ireland\u2019s \u2018journey\u2019 as stronger Scottish-Irish ties planned"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scottish First Minister John Swinney has said he \u201cadmires\u201d Ireland\u2019s journey to independence as he spoke about strengthening co-operation on issues such as energy and diasporas.<\/p>\n

Irish junior minister Neale Richmond said there were opportunities for a \u201cricher\u201d relationship as he greeted the Scottish National Party (SNP) leader in Dublin.<\/p>\n

Mr Swinney became the first head of government to meet Irish President Catherine Connolly, after which he pledged to \u201cchampion\u201d the friendship between Scotland and Ireland.<\/p>\n

He also met Mr Richmond at Iveagh House after Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee pulled out of the press event.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Mr Richmond said the energy sector, third-level institutions and financial services were among the areas of co-operation highlighted to create a stronger relationship.<\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s and Scotland\u2019s large diasporas in Canada and the US were also mentioned as a common factor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIreland is the fifth largest import destination into Scotland as it stands,\u201d Mr Richmond said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are over 300 Enterprise Ireland companies exporting into Scotland now, and we\u2019re just opening a new Enterprise Ireland office in Glasgow, but like all relationships, you don\u2019t want to stand still.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is such an opportunity for an even richer relationship.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen it working informally and now, for the last five years, far more formally, and what we want to achieve with this new framework document launched today is the next stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Mr Swinney said he had spoken before about how Ireland had the \u201cgolden combination\u201d of independence and membership of the European Union.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do admire the journey of Ireland, and I want Scotland to be an independent country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added that one of the reasons Scotland needed to be independent was to create its own migration policy.<\/p>\n

He said Scotland needed to boost its working-age population but he expected the UK Government to be \u201chostile\u201d to the suggestion of a \u201cbespoke\u201d migration system for Scotland.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just another example of the arguments and the necessity for Scotland to be an independent country.\u201d<\/p>\n

After his meeting with Ms Connolly on Wednesday morning, Mr Swinney said: \u201cScotland and Ireland have longstanding ties and I will continue to champion our historic friendship.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a privilege to be the first head of government to meet the new president this morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the meeting, I set out my ambition to work with the president and counterparts across Ireland to strengthen co-operation in areas that matter to both our nations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese links enrich our societies and create opportunities for both our people.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeeting President Connolly today demonstrates the closeness between our countries and our shared commitment to peace, equality and international solidarity, ideas and beliefs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese values guide our work at home and abroad, and I look forward to standing together on issues that matter globally.\u201d<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scottish First Minister John Swinney has said he \u201cadmires\u201d Ireland\u2019s journey to independence as he spoke about strengthening…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3656,61,60,77280,43,9036],"class_list":["post-161064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-catherine-connolly","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-john-swinney","tag-news","tag-scotland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161064","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=161064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}