Irish minister to visit Cyprus for St Patrick’s Day

Irish Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan will visit Cyprus on St Patrick’s Day, it was revealed on Wednesday.

The country’s public broadcaster RTE reported that O’Callaghan, who has served in the role since January last year and hails from the country’s capital, Dublin, will visit both Cyprus and Greece on the country’s national day, which is celebrated on March 17.

O’Callaghan is one of 38 Irish ministers who are to make overseas trips on St Patrick’s Day, with eight, including Taoiseach Micheal Martin, to travel to the United States.

Martin is expected to visit US President Donald Trump at the White House, while also travelling to the city of Philadelphia, while the country’s Foreign Minister Helen McEntee will visit Boston, and Enterprise Minister Peter Burke will travel to New York.

The country’s Arts Minister Patrick O’Donovan will travel to the state of Georgia, while Housing Minister James Browne will visit Chicago, Agriculture Minister Martin Heydon will be in San Francisco, while junior ministers Robert Troy and Niamh Smyth will travel to Austin and Miami respectively.

Those not travelling to the US include Tanaiste and former Taoiseach Simon Harris, who will travel to both Paris and London, Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien, who will travel to Brazil, Education Minister Hildegarde Naughton, who will visit both Chile and Argentina, and Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers, who will travel to both Senegal and Nigeria.

Ireland will take over the Council of the European Union’s rotating presidency from Cyprus at the beginning of July, and has paired each EU member state with one of its own counties as a cultural initiative for its six-month term.

Cyprus has been paired with County Leitrim, the country’s smallest county by population.

The Irish government said that during its six-month term as the holder of the Council of the EU’s rotating presidency, the ambassador of that member state and the Irish ambassador to it will “undertake a programme of public engagements focused on Ireland’s European relations and its role in the European Union”.

It added that the visits “will help to strengthen links between counties across Ireland and other EU member states” and will “contribute to building Ireland’s relationship with its EU partners as Ireland takes on a significant leadership role at European level”.