The trees lining Frankfurt’s river Main glow in autumnal yellows and reds, but in a stylish office suite seven floors up, German-Irish relations are enjoying a second spring.
On Friday, after a long search, Ireland’s new consulate general in Germany’s financial capital opened its doors in a permanent premises with spectacular river and city views that put working from home in the ha’penny place.
Covering an entire floor with airy working spaces and a generous event/reception space, consul general Ann-Marie Flynn told guests the five-strong Irish team had been “bowled over by the warmth of the welcome and depth of support” since the consulate first opened, in a temporary premises, in 2019.
“Since opening, we’ve worked to deepen engagement and exchange between Ireland and this part of Germany,” said Flynn, who previously served as consul in Edinburgh and has worked in the Department of Foreign Affairs’ trade and security policy units.
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Her consulate is responsible for the federal states of Hesse, Saarland and Rheinland-Palatinate, home to 11.5 million people – more than the population of Sweden.
About 3,500 Irish citizens are registered in this region with strong bilateral ties to Ireland, from the 18th century Palatine emigration to Ireland and today’s local GAA club partnership with Eintracht Frankfurt.
On hand to cut the green ribbon was Ireland’s Ambassador to Germany, Maeve Collins, and the man paying for it all: Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe, clearly enthused by what he saw.
“Bricks-and-mortar foundations are how you develop further layers to any diplomatic relationship,” he said.
Donohoe said Ireland’s network of consulates general, opened in recent years as part of the Global Irish initiative, were “recognition that our Irish communities have become so big in parts of the world and become so important to us”.
Wearing his second hat as Eurogroup president, Donohoe is a regular visitor to Frankfurt, a city he says is well worth seeing “to understand what innovation looks like”.
A delighted Frankfurt lord mayor Mike Josef told the gathering that “choosing Frankfurt was a very good choice: a modern metropolis at the heart of Germany and Europe”.
Just three hours to Brussels, and four to Paris, Frankfurt is home to many major banks as well as the European Central Bank. Other related institutions are based here too, all with large numbers of Irish staff.
Frankfurt is the economic powerhouse of the federal state of Hesse, represented at the opening by Karin Müller, state secretary responsible for federal and European affairs.
She praised Ireland’s €4 billion trade ties to Hesse last year and presented a loaf of bread and salt to bless the consulate with “prosperity, luck, friendship and protection from evil spirits”.
Talk of spirits such recalled, for some of the Irish guests at least, President Catherine Connolly’s campaign concerns over the return of German militarist ghosts. Donohoe was quick to scotch any question of dissent here with the Government.
“President Connolly is absolutely correct to acknowledge the value of neutrality to the people of Ireland and elsewhere,” he said. “And I see with my own eyes how tangible the threats to the future security of Europe are. Germany is responding back to that with very big decisions to keep itself safe.”
As well as Frankfurt, Ireland has a second consulate general in Munich, responsible for the two southern states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. These two states have a combined population of 24.7 million people, more than the entire population of Scandinavia.
Last year Irish goods exports to Baden-Württemberg alone totalled almost €9 billion. For Munich consul general James O’Shea, an Irish presence in southern Germany makes sense from both political and economic perspectives.
“Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg are economic powerhouses,” he said, “responsible between them for almost half of all R&D spending in Germany.”
