President Catherine Connolly pays tribute to the approximately 20,000 Irish people living in Spain
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What tribute did President Catherine Connolly pay to the Irish community in Spain?
The Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk. Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to the President of Ireland, Her Excellency Catherine Connolly and Mr. Brian McEnery.
Well, that was a welcome for President Catherine Connolly in Barcelona. There are approximately 20,000 Irish people living in Spain, and that was mentioned at that event in Barcelona last evening. Newstalk's Tom Douglas was there. Tom, good morning.
Who organized the event honoring Irish people living in Spain?
Good morning, Pat. What was that event? Who was there? That event was put on by the Irish ambassador to Spain, Mr. Brian Lynn. He said it was his first time to actually get a chance to meet the president since she took office. He mentioned how honoured he was to be able to put on that event in a really beautiful hotel, a really beautiful city, looking over at the National Art Museum there at the top of the hill in Barcelona. And so the people who were invited there, were they all Irish people living in Catalonia at the moment? Is that the audience? That's it, yeah. There was a few people I spoke to who were back and forward but had really kind of significant links to Catalonia. The President spoke to the group of invited Irish people describing the relationship between the two countries as having become the subject of myth and legend.
It's gone for so long. And Catherine Connolly also recognised the huge impact the GAA has had on the region with clubs in Barcelona, in Sitges and in Girona.
I was really delighted to hear how many of these clubs in Catalonia are made up of a majority of Catalan players. It really is heartening how enthusiastically local Spaniards have taken and thrown themselves into learning the skills of our native sports. In addition, and it also gladdened my heart, because tied in with an event that I attended in Dublin recently, when we launched four handmade, well, handmade is probably the wrong word, but four currics onto the Liffey. And then I come here to find out that there's an annual curric regatta held every year. So I'm looking forward, looking for a boule of barcella. Wow.
Now, Tom, you met some of the people there. Who did you meet and what do they have to say for themselves? I did indeed. There were lots of GAA players who were very keen to tell me how great the club is. Max is originally from Carstleveen in Kerry. He's living in Barcelona about 10 years and is playing at Barcelona Guelph. I don't think that clip is playing in my machine here. So tell us about Anna. You met Anna as well. That's right. Anna, actually, we described her history as having a foot in each camp. Her mother's from Dublin and her father's from Girona. She told me she grew up in Spain, but has had that attachment to Ireland.
So my mum's Irish. She met my dad in 72, moved to Spain and lived here ever since. But it's interesting because I was born and raised here, but I went every single summer back to Ireland.
So you went back to the worst weather during the summer.
Yeah, yeah. But to me, it was great. And then I lived there for a couple of years, but I've never fully lived long. I just kind of went back. So to me, Ireland is this weird, nostalgic place that I've never lived in, but I've heard a lot about because my mom has told me about. And I have a... like I kind of inherited my mum's nostalgia and at this moment now it's kind of brought me back to want to learn more and read more about Ireland and go back and know more people from there.
Well, it's interesting listening to that accent. Clearly, she picked up her English at home and during those summer holidays because there isn't a trace of Barcelona in her speaking of English. And now during the president's address, and I know there were concerns, what might she say? But I presume everything was probably vetted by the Department of Foreign Affairs as she was speaking of Irish-Spanish political relations in an ever-changing and volatile political landscape. So what did you have to say? In her speech to the gathered Irish people at this event last night, the President mentioned both countries and their commitment to peace, dealing with their legacies, and echoed her comments from that summit of left-wing leaders that had taken place earlier in the day.
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