Six months after setting up shop in Edinburgh, our new Consul General, Dan Mulhall welcomed the Taoiseach and the Tanaiste to Scotland this week. Bertie Ahern is flying in for today's match at Murrayfield, where he will present the trophy, or Quaich as they call it there, to the winning captain. It hasn't been ours for about 10 years. He will have talks with the Secretary of State for Scotland, Donald Dewar and return to Dublin this evening.
Mary Harney was in Edinburgh for a ball in the Caledonian Hotel on Tuesday, the first Irish Government minister to attend a St Patrick's Day event in Scotland. Helen Liddel, nee Reilly from Coatbridge, the Scottish Minister for Education was also there, as was the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Eric Milligan.
On Wednesday, Harney went to Glasgow for an Aer Lingus/Bord Failte breakfast and an Enterprise Ireland lunch, and back to Edinburgh for a St Patrick's Day reception in the Assembly Rooms, organised by Mulhall for about 400 friends of Ireland. On Thursday, the LE Ciara arrived in Glasgow.
It's no surprise that we're pushing the boat out, because Ireland is hot in Scotland. Mulhall and his deputy, Michael Lonergan, move into permanent offices in the Georgian new town next week. He says many Scots look to us as a country that can offer inspiration. The Scottish Nationalist Party is playing up the links as relevant to Scotland's future and all are very conscious of our great economic strides and of the British/Irish Council which will give Scotland an external role. So, Mulhall says, he finds a very receptive audience in his work developing links and heightening the Irish profile.
And there is interest here too. Scotland elects its parliament on May 6th. The polls make Labour the largest party, but it won't have a majority, so a coalition with the Lib Dems or the SNP, which expects about 40 of the 159 Scottish seats compared with six out of 659 at Westminister, is in prospect. The Tories, who have no seats north of the border, will take about 10 and come in fourth. While Scotland is now more nationalistic than independent-minded, SNP participation in government will mean referendums.