'Ireland must be at the front': AG Fanning pushes for deeper post-FTA economic ties with India

Ireland's Attorney General Rossa Fanning has highlighted the deepening ties between Ireland and India, pointing to a booming Indian community in Ireland and significant trade links, as he joined St Patrick's Day celebrations in Delhi on Tuesday. Speaking during his visit to mark the global Irish festival, Mr Fanning, who attended events hosted by Ireland's Ambassador to India, Kevin Kelly, with India's Secretary (West) at Ministry of External Affairs Amb Sibi George representing the host government, described India as "such an important country to us".

The Attorney General emphasised the scale of the Indian diaspora in Ireland. "There are now about 100,000 Indian citizens living and working in Ireland. Some of them are in college, up to 15,000 Indian students in university in Ireland, and that's the second highest number of Indian students in any EU country, apart from Germany," he said.

With Ireland's population standing at just 5.7 million, he noted the impact: "100,000 people mightn't seem a lot in an Indian context, but... that's almost 2% of our entire population."

The Indian community contributes across key sectors. "The 100,000 Indian people also include many people working in different sectors of the economy, technology, finance, in pharmaceuticals and in the health care system," Mr Fanning added.

Trade figures underscore Ireland's outsized role in EU-India relations. "Ireland does about 16 billion euros of trade each year with India. That's about 10% of all of the EU's trade with India. But Ireland is much smaller than 10% of the EU so we're punching above our weight already in terms of our trading relationship with India."

Mr Fanning linked these ties to shared history and the recent landmark EU-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA), announced earlier this year by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"One of the themes of my visit is the connections between Ireland and India, which date back a long time. We, of course, are both English speaking countries. We're both former British colonies. We both obtained independence in the 20th century, and we both have written constitutions. The Indian Constitution came 10 years after the Irish document, and in fact, it borrowed, in some respects, from the Irish document," he explained.

With the new FTA opening doors, he positioned Ireland strongly: "There is, I think, now, an increased opportunity for future trade between all European Union countries and India. But Ireland must be at the front of the queue, because we're an English speaking country that has more in common with India than most of the EU."

St Patrick's Day provides the perfect platform for such diplomacy. Mr Fanning described how the Irish government deploys representatives worldwide during the festival season.

"So the Irish government travels all around the world for St Patrick's Day. It's our main diplomatic tour season, and we have 40 different representatives of the Irish government traveling this week to 54 countries. In every major country, China, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, France, Germany, Spain. You name us, we have an Irish government representative," he said.

"So we use the message of St Patrick's Day to talk about our Irish values and our Irish heritage around the world, and to build and foster our connections and economic relations with our trading partners, and we're really pleased to come to India, because India is such an important country to us."

The Delhi event, featuring green-clad crowds and cultural exchanges, kicked off celebrations in India. Mr Fanning's visit, part of a broader two-city programme including Mumbai, also included meetings with senior Indian officials and judiciary members to discuss legal and governance cooperation.