Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We are very fortunate in this country to have a national day which has such resonance throughout the world and which offers us huge opportunities to promote Ireland. One could not possibly buy the international advertising, goodwill and promotion that St. Patrick's Day gives to us. That is now organised in a much more co-ordinated way involving members of the global Irish network.

Arising from the previous forum, a number of initiatives are being taken forward, one of which is the idea of a year of design in 2015. Network members are involved in that. The second idea was this country becoming a model for smart ageing, bringing together technologies, medicines and elder care. A group is working on that. I met one of the members of the group, Susan Davis, in Washington when I was there in mid-June. She has taken a particular interest in the development of the smart ageing initiative. The concept of smart ageing has been made part of the Action Plan for Jobs. There is huge potential in that regard and it is something I would like to see developed in the period ahead.

See this speech in context