Following on from the Global Irish Economic Forum in Farmleigh last September, Micheál Martin, Minister for Foreign Affairs, chaired a meeting today with business, cultural and sporting figures from the Irish community in Britain.

The event took place in London, and the focus was on helping the Irish economy.

Todays activities effectively mark the launch of the Global Irish Network, and the initial aims are to identify opportunities for an export-led recovery, and to engage additional resources that will help promote Ireland’s economic, cultural and tourism interests.

Mr Martin also announced his intention to hold similar meetings in other parts of the world, and the network will draw from a diverse group of achievers who have a strong connection to Ireland. It will be managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs, with ambassadors directing and organising the members in their respective countries.

It’s also good to see enthusiasm coming from regions such as Argentina – for example here’s the English translation of an article in The Southern Cross that explores some possibilities.

In summary this is starting to look like it has a solid structure and the early indications are positive. 300 influential people around the world have accepted the Minister’s invitation to participate, and it will be interesting to see how things develop over the coming year.

It would also be good if the Global Irish Network website had an open access area where progress and achievements could be made publicly available. In the meantime we’ll try and keep up with it as much as we can here. (Maybe a GIN and tonic category!)

Associated posts on diaspora.ie:

Farmleigh Global Economic Forum
Global Irish Economic Forum – Pt II