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Paschal Donohoe and Charlie Flanagan, at today's launch. PA Wire/Press Association Images
highway to hull
How do they decide which ministers to send abroad for St Patrick's Day?
“I don’t know of any naughty ministers,” a poker-faced Charlie Flanagan insisted.
WHERE WILL MINISTERS be heading on their grip-and-grin St Patrick’s Day trips this year?
We don’t know much as yet — but foreign affairs minister Charlie Flanagan told reporters today that the list of mooted destinations was currently on his desk for consideration.
“It’s currently being finalised. We’re concentrating for the most part on ensuring that we maximise our visits.”
Gone are the days when the Saint Patrick’s Festival was regarded something of a “jolly” for ministers and public representatives, he insisted.
Flanagan said he would be asking all ministers and junior ministers heading abroad this year to focus on “trade, economic investment and increasing our exports”.
They will be reporting on the visits directly to the Taoiseach.
Irish politicians had taken part in 125 high level political meetings during the St Patrick’s period last year, Flanagan said.
New locations would be added to the 2015′s list, he said, noting that it was intended ministers would “follow the markets” in an attempt to build new business and new political contacts.
The full list will be revealed later this month.
Asked whether he divided his list of ministers into “naughty” and “nice” (the latter being sent to sun-soaked paradises, presumably —- the former to industrialised northern towns) he dead-panned:
I don’t know of any naughty ministers.
He said the Government would be taking a common-sense approach to who was sent where; the energy minister would be visiting a country we were interested in building energy links with, etc. etc.
Flanagan was speaking alongside tourism & transport minister Paschal Donohoe and Tourism Ireland boss Niall Gibbons, at an event to launch this year’s ‘Global Greening’.
The Colosseum in Rome, the Sacré-Cœur Basilica in Paris and a raft of other well-known and not-so-well-known landmarks will be bathed in eerie green light this year as part of the annual tourism initiative.
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