Irish Culture and Heritage Day, Edinburgh
Scotland is not only one of Ireland’s nearest geographical neighbours - it also shares many cultural elements with Ireland, thanks in part to the influence of the Irish diaspora community.
Over the centuries, Scotland has been home to many Irish people. Today, the relationship between the two nations runs deep, with similarities abounding in aspects of language, music and traditional arts.
To recognise this unique connection, the Consulate General of Ireland in Edinburgh organises an annual Irish Culture and Heritage Day, bringing together Irish cultural and community groups in Edinburgh and beyond.
In 2023, these groups included the GAA, Conradh na Gaeilge, the Edinburgh Irish Dance Academy and the Little Ireland arts collective, as well as musicians who travelled from Inverness and the Highlands to be there.
Funding from the Department’s Irish Abroad Unit was vital in delivering this event, and Jerry O’Donovan, Consul General of Ireland to Scotland, says it was important to celebrate both the contribution of Irish culture and of the Irish community to Scotland.
“Events like these can showcase the work being done by the Irish community,” he says. “And they’re also important as an official acknowledgement of the Irish government of the importance that the community has.”
2023 saw the first edition of Edinburgh’s Irish Culture and Heritage Day since before the pandemic, which brought a hiatus unto affairs.
“Sometimes it’s much harder to resuscitate an event like this than it would be to just start it off, because you know how much work is involved,” says O’Donovan.
To this end, 2023’s event benefitted from vital support and funding from organisations including Tourism Ireland, the GAA and the ESB.
Attendees included Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, Angus Robertson MSP, who also wrote about the event in his weekly column in the Edinburgh Evening News.
O’Donovan says that one of the most popular events of the day was shamrock face-painting for children. “We wanted an event that was accessible to everyone, be they eight months old or 80. So seeing the queues for face painting was a personal highlight for me. Certainly longer queues than for my own speech!”
For O’Donovan himself, there’s a personal connection to this kind of event.
“I grew up in Canada and in the US, so I know firsthand how important these events are for maintaining that connection with Ireland, when you're not on the island,” he says. “We would travel three hours for events like these in California, and you know, you would probably go twice that distance again with the promise of Taytos at the end of it.”
The Consulate is now planning next year’s event, which O’Donovan hopes will have an expanded offering of different kinds of cultural elements.
There are also plans to see how the event could be replicated in other parts of Scotland where there are significant Irish communities, like Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee.
O’Donovan believes there’s a vital importance in showcasing the facets of Irish culture all over Scotland, for the Irish community and for the purpose of building links with the rest of Scotland, too.
“We can never underestimate the value of culture, and of keeping that connection with Ireland.”