Irish Embassy celebrates St Patrick’s Day with minister’s visit

When celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day (actually March 17) last Monday, the Irish Embassy combined traditional elements (such as the Guinness and Jameson’s appreciated by community stalwarts) with an original venue – Círculo Italiano (at least the flags are pretty similar).

For the occasion Dublin sent out Dara Calleary, Ireland’s Minister for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation who represented past, present and future alike – the past because he took pride in hailing from County Mayo (where Argentine Navy founder Guillermo Brown) and the present and future via a portfolio including digital knowhow, an area where he suggested that Argentina and Ireland could find even more common ground than the more standard trade promotion he also covers.

Indeed, Calleary found a lot to inspire him while in Buenos Aires, packing out his agenda with a tribute to Admiral Brown and San Martín, talks at the Foreign Ministry and a visit to a Mass and celebration at Colegio Santa Brígida, which was founded by Father Fahy, an Irish immigrant.

The St. Patrick’s Day party was addressed by both the visiting minister and Irish Ambassador Gerard McCoy. Both underlined that Argentina has the largest Irish community outside the English-speaking world and both injected cultural and sporting links – McCoy also took care to work in Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay which his Embassy also covers.

Even in a “No hay plata” Argentina, Saint Patrick’s Day was honoured in style.