Ireland’s Ambassador to Portugal, Alma Ní Choigligh, took on the role in September 2023, and shared more about her career with The Portugal News, “I started in the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ireland, more than 25 years ago and my first posting was to Singapore.” The Ambassador revealed that this was at a time when there was no Irish Embassy and that she was part of the team that worked to open the very first Irish Embassy in Singapore in 2000.

Following this, Alma Ní Choigligh had two further postings since then in London, serving twice at the Irish Embassy in London. The Ambassador told The Portugal News “Prior to moving to Lisbon, I was the acting head of our EU division, so I worked on Ireland’s EU policies, as well as on trade promotion and on Ireland’s Brexit preparedness.”

Adding that “Portugal is a close EU partner and it is really important for Ireland to keep building those positive bilateral relationships and that is exactly my job now as Ambassador. It is a great continuity and I am really happy to have that opportunity.”


Calling Portugal Home

Alma Ní Choigligh explained that the transition to living in Portugal has been a smooth one, “I have been greeted by so many friendly Irish faces, from Porto to Coimbra, to the Algarve. I have been really struck by the warmth of the welcome that Ireland gets, and I have been lucky to receive it as Irish Ambassador. The growing Irish community in Portugal is one of the most positive things about the job, so I have to say that has really helped my settling in.”

Further sharing, “The official figures, tell us that more and more Irish people are choosing Portugal to move long term to and they are not only moving to one part of Portugal. We have actually seen increases in the Irish communities across different regions of Portugal. There is the warmth of the welcome and of the weather and we enjoy both, not to mention the food.”


Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day

Alma Ní Choigligh explained that this year’s St Patrick’s Day was very exciting because they had the first St. Patrick’s Day parade in Lisbon. “The parade went from Avenida da Liberdade to Praça do Comercio which was really wonderful and we are looking forward to making it bigger and better next year.”

Adding that, “The speaker of our Parliament visited Lisbon for St. Patrick’s Day, so he was part of the global Ireland programme which is where Irish ministers and senior political figures go abroad to promote Ireland internationally on St. Patrick’s Day. We were really proud to welcome Ireland’s Ceann Comhairle to this celebration.”


Policy Priorities

Alma Ní Choigligh detailed her main priorities, “We want to support our citizens here in Portugal and build that people-to-people relationship between Ireland and Portugal. I am really proud of the support our embassy team gives Irish citizens who need assistance, whether that be something simple like a lost passport or more complicated such as hospitalisations or bereavements, we want our citizens to feel listened to in difficult times and this is a big part of what we do. I want to make sure this continues to work really well and that service continues to be delivered to Irish citizens.”

The Ambassador added “I think building on that, I want to make sure that those people-to-people relationships also support the really strong trade relationship between Ireland and Portugal that we have. We have had more than 3 billion euros of Irish exports to Portugal, between goods and services in 2022 and 2023. That is an extraordinarily large figure for Ireland, which is a country with only 5 million people.”

With regards to Ireland and Portugal’s trading relationship, the Ambassador highlighted the work of the dynamic IPBN organisation, which is the Ireland Portugal Business Network. “The IPBN is an excellent example of how Ireland and Portugal can work together, they have branches in Lisbon, Porto, and in the Algarve and has more than 200 members. They have a really strong agenda of driving forward the business partnership and connections between Ireland and Portugal.”


Cultural Connections

The third policy that the Ambassador is focusing on is the cultural connections between Ireland and Portugal. The Ambassador kindly shared how Lisbon’s Animation Festival, MONSTRA, had Ireland as its guest country this year. “They showcased the very best of Irish animation in recent years over the month of March, the audience, which had a big Irish contingent, would have been about 30,000 people.”


“We also have Irish dancing which is going from strength to strength in Portugal and we have the Gaelic Athletic Association community (GAA). There has been a GAA team in Lisbon since 2017 and it is really successful, playing in a league with a lot of Spanish teams. Last year, they were the winners of the regional league so it is great to have that live connection between Ireland and Portugal.”


2024

With regards to 2024, the Ambassador shared “I think what I am looking forward to this year, is taking the opportunity to deepen the relationship between Ireland and Portugal and to really celebrate the achievements of our relationship, sparking creativity, sparking new relationships, and in terms of building those connections for businesses, innovation and a really dynamic relationship between two like-minded EU states.”

To keep up to date with the Irish Embassy in Portugal, please visit their website, where you can sign up for their regular newsletter. You can also find them on social media at https://www.facebook.com/IrlEmbLisbon and https://twitter.com/IrlEmbLisbon

Author

Following undertaking her university degree in English with American Literature in the UK, Cristina da Costa Brookes moved back to Portugal to pursue a career in Journalism, where she has worked at The Portugal News for 3 years. Cristina’s passion lies with Arts & Culture as well as sharing all important community-related news.

Cristina da Costa Brookes