TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN announced €5 million in funding for cultural projects as part of the UK-Ireland 2030 programme.

Speaking at Cork City Hall as part of the UK-Ireland summit, Martin said the funding will go towards twelve new partnership projects involving Irish national cultural institutions and cultural organisations in the UK.

UK prime minister Keir Starmer was in attendance as part of his two-day trip to Cork for the second annual UK-Ireland Summit – at last year’s Summit in Liverpool, both leaders agreed to launch a programme of cooperation dated until 2030.

Before travelling to Cork, Starmer made a visit to Belfast and met Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, who said the cost of living was the main topic discussed during a “very forthright” meeting.

In this evening’s address, Martin said the new funding will support co-productions in theatre and music, shared research on material held in Ireland and the UK’s respective national archives and national libraries, and the organisation of shared exhibitions in visual art.

There is also a shared initiative to support access to cultural venues by persons with disabilities across Ireland and the UK.

“The contribution of Irish culture and creativity to Britain is extraordinary, as is the contribution of British culture and creativity in Ireland today,” he said.

“When Prime Minister Starmer and I met in Liverpool in March last year, we agreed to establish a strategic partnership to deepen and amplify co-operation between our leading cultural institutions, and to support wider public engagement with the culture and heritage of both our countries.”

“That is because it is in the artistic and cultural space more than any other that our relationship is renewed and recreated every day through music, theatre, comedy, cinema, in curation and research, and so much more.”

The Taoiseach said few relationships are “as deep, as layered, or as enduring” as the ties between Cork and the communities of the United Kingdom.

“The relationship between Ireland and the UK is shaped by geography, history, family ties, trade, and a shared responsibility for peace and prosperity in Northern Ireland.”

Some of the goals he said the UK and Ireland have set out for 2030 include infrastructure delivery, clean energy, climate action, the cost of living and protecting critical infrastructure.

He stressed the importance of the Irish-British relationship in a “changing, more uncertain, and more unsettled world”.

“In that context, the case for an active, engaged and close partnership between our two countries has never been greater,” he said.