Welcome to the Consulate General’s April newsletter.  

In this issue, you can read about our events in March and learn more about our upcoming plans.  

March saw the Consulate team travel to numerous towns and villages across Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate to participate in St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. The strong affection for Ireland and Irish culture was wonderful to see and it was fantastic to see St. Patrick’s Day festivities return after three years. A particular highlight for us was the hosting of our first ever in-person St. Patrick’s Day reception and the visit to Frankfurt by Minister Paschal Donohoe. You can check out our recap video on Twitter here. 

We are also excited to bring you news of the ‘Ireland in Germany’ 2024 Cultural Season, which aims to strengthen Ireland’s cultural engagement with Germany. 

Follow us on our social media channels to keep up with our latest news, events and travel advice. If you know anyone with an interest in Ireland, please encourage them to sign up for our monthly newsletter, by sending us an email here.  

Kind regards,  

Anne-Marie, Patrick, Martina and Rebecca

Consulate General of Ireland, Frankfurt

Visit of Minister Paschal Donohoe, 14 - 15 March 

The Consulate was delighted to welcome Minister for Public Expenditure and Eurogroup President Paschal Donohoe to Frankfurt as part of his visit to Germany for St. Patrick’s Day. 

During his visit, Minister Donohoe met with Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, Uwe Becker, Hesse State Secretary for European Affairs, visited the European School Frankfurt, and met with members of the Irish community and friends of Ireland at the Consulate’s St. Patrick’s Day reception. 

Consulate General of Ireland, Frankfurt St. Patrick’s Day Reception, 14 March 

The Consulate was delighted to host its first St. Patrick’s Day reception on 14 March at the German Film Museum. It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces join us to celebrate our National Holiday and enjoy the best of Irish music, dance and food. 

Thank you to everyone who came along and for making our first ever St. Patrick’s Day reception such an enjoyable and memorable event.

 Check out the photos of the event here! 

St. Patrick’s Day Activities 

The Consulate team was delighted to support numerous St. Patrick’s Day events across Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate. 

A huge thanks to everyone for all their work and effort in organising events to mark St. Patrick’s Day. It was wonderful to be a part of these celebrations and to join the Irish and German communities in Frankfurt, Dausenau, Friedberg, Glauburg, Hoechst, Nied and Dreieich in marking our National Holiday. Check out some of the photos from these events below, which included the first St. Patrick’s Day festival in Dausenau, landmark greenings, the launch of Tourism Ireland’s ‘Fill your Heart with Ireland’ campaign at Radio Frankfurt and much more.

 Check out our Facebook page for an overview of all the events! 

St. Patrick’s Day Greenings, 17 March 

Check out some of the wonderful landmarks that went green for St. Patrick’s Day in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate. In Dausenau, the greenings were part of the first St. Patrick’s Day festival there and saw the medieval leaning tower and ring wall along the River Lahn go green that weekend. In Keltenwelt am Glauberg the museum and celtic statues were illuminated, while the castle in Hoechst also went green. 

If you saw any other landmark go green in Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate or Saarland we would love to see the pictures! 

Hessen Trade and Invest Trade Mission to Ireland, 29 – 31 March 

CG Anne-Marie Flynn accompanied Jens Deutschendorf, State Secretary in the Hesse Ministry for Economy, Energy, Transport and Housing and a delegation of companies and research institutes from Hesse on a trade mission to Ireland last week.  

During the visit, the companies learned about Ireland’s Climate Action Plan and explored opportunities to collaborate with Irish partners to develop renewable energy as we seek to reach net zero by 2050. 

Seachtain na Gaeilge 

The Consulate supported a number of events in Frankfurt this year for Seachtain na Gaeilge. 

Consul General Flynn attended a fascinating lecture by Stiofan O’Foghlu on the history of the Irish language at the Griesheim city library and also attended a Pop-up Gaeltacht at the Frankfurt Art Bar organised by Danny Kelly. The Frankfurt Art Bar also hosted a traditional Irish music session on 1 March to kick start Seachtain na Gaeilge in Frankfurt. 

If you would like to get involved with more Irish-speaking events in Frankfurt, please contact Danny Kelly at the Frankfurt Art Bar at +49 1522 5855804. 

St. Patrick’s Day Drawing Competition 

The Consulate General of Ireland in Frankfurt and Tourism Ireland Germany held a drawing competition over the month of March in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. 

We were thrilled with the response –74 entries in total! The standard was extremely high and it was very difficult to choose the top three. Congratulations to our winners: 

Winners: 

Suze Blom

Matthea B.

Mathilda Larkin

Runners Up: 

David Millan

Ella O'Rourke

Matilda Marturano

Marta O'Grady

Lot Bielen

Sahana Buaria

You can check out the winning drawings below. We would like to sincerely thank all the children and schools who took part and sent us their fantastic creative pictures. 

Upcoming Events

Ireland EU50, Europa-Union Mainz-Bingen, 2 May 

The Consulate is delighted to partner with the Rheinland-Pfalz Staatskanzlei, Stadt Ingelheim am Rhein, Europa Union Mainz-Bingen and Europa Direct Ingelheim for an event on the 2 May marking 50 years of Ireland's membership of the European Union. 

Please see below for further information on the event. 

If you would like to attend, please register by 22 April at mainz-bingen@europa-union.de. 

Book Club, 17 May 

Thanks to everyone who came along to our March Book Club. We thoroughly enjoyed reading and discussing Jan Carson's "The Raptures". 

We will be taking a break for the Easter holidays, so we will continue our Book Club on 17 May with Donal Ryan's "The Queen of Dirt Island" – keep an eye on our social media channels for further details! 

Ireland in Germany 2024: Calls for Expressions of Interest 

Culture Ireland and the Department of Foreign Affairs are seeking expressions of interest from artists, ensembles and cultural organisations to participate in an Irish season in Germany in 2024. 

This initiative aims to showcase, across Germany, the richness of talent in contemporary Irish arts and culture. 

The call for expressions of interest in participation in the season are open until 18.00 CET on Friday 14 April 2023. You can find more information on the Cultural Season here. 

Consulate General of Ireland, Frankfurt

Signature OpernTurm

Bockenheimer Landstr. 2-4

60306 Frankfurt am Main 

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