Seanad Éireann debate -
Thursday, 1 Dec 2022

Before I call on the Leader of the House to outline the Order of Business, I welcome not only Romania's ambassador to Ireland, but also Ireland's ambassador to Romania. They are here to celebrate Romania's national day. Some 104 years ago the national assembly proclaimed the unification of the Romanian people. A long struggle for independence is just one of the many common bonds that unites Ireland and the people of Romania.

Every year on the first day of December, we celebrate the unity of the Romanian people. Living divided under three empires Romania struggled for centuries for liberty, independence and unity. The unification began with the regions of Wallachia and Moldavia in January 1859, and was completed on 1 December 1918 when Transylvania joined with other Romanian regions following a plebiscite. In a powerful symbol of unity, the Romanian King Ferdinand and his wife Marie were crowned in 1922 in the same city where he national assembly met. Of course, it was also the year the Irish Free State was founded. As proud and active members of both the European Union and the United Nations, Romania and Ireland work together in a rules-based international order for rights and sovereignties to be decided by themselves.

Of the 120,000 people currently living in Ireland, many have been here between 15 and 20 years. Many are now going home to bring skills learned here back to their native country. They follow in the footsteps of Josef Cretzan who made his way to Waterford Crystal and helped make it internationally famous. He was born in the city of Putna in northern Romania, but in 1951 after years of wandering around war-torn Europe he made his way to Ireland and got a job in Waterford Glass, examples of which adorn our Seanad Chamber. Of course the father of a former Senator, now Deputy Ivana Bacik, was also one of those who helped to establish Waterford Crystal as a global brand.

We would like to thank both ambassadors for coming today and we wish them a happy independence day. I would also like to wish Ilinca Popa, who works in our Seanad office, a happy independence day. The ambassadors are most welcome.

I am going to hand over to the convenor of the friendship group, who will be very brief. It is very unusual to do this but, as it is the national day, he will take over for a few minutes.

I do not think this has been done before. It is possibly a reflection on the Cathaoirleach and the Chamber's reaction to, and celebration of, Romania's national day. The Cathaoirleach outlined very clearly some of Romania's struggles for independence and so on. It is absolutely fantastic that not only do we have the Romanian ambassador to Ireland, Laureniu-Mihai Ştefan, here with his team, we also have the Irish ambassador to Romania who has travelled from Romania for the celebration of the Romanian national day in Ireland. They are both very welcome to the Chamber.

There are an estimated 120,000 Romanians living in Ireland who have established their lives here, and work right across many different industries such as manufacturing, technology and services like retail and hospitality. We are delighted they are here. They are providing valuable diversity to our communities and performing many important tasks and skills in our workforce. We wish them and their families a very happy national day. The ambassadors and their teams are both very welcome.

I thank the Acting Chairperson. I welcome both ambassadors, Mr. McGarry and Mr. Stefan. They are very welcome and I wish them a happy national day. For my tuppence worth, I have been to Romania twice this year. Once was with the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs to see the enormous work the Romanians have done in welcoming refugees from Ukraine. The second time was for pleasure to bring my 16-year-old daughter, who does not want to go on holidays with us anymore, to see Dracula. We had an absolute ball and I highly recommend it. It is a beautiful country and Bucharest is a beautiful city. Happy national day.