The benefits of ministerial travel..

| Readers 3

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has defended the global travels of Irish government ministers for St Patrick’s Day celebrations as RTÉ News revealed the cost of last year’s trips. Meanwhile, here, the Northern Ireland Department of Culture Arts and Leisure have announced that NI Culture minister, Edwin Poots – the Executive’s only young-Earther? – is currently on a visit to Tennessee and Texas, “build[ing] more meaningful links with Ulster-Scots communities.” He will also be attending the South by South West Music Festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, where he might bump into On the Record’s Jim Carroll.. He will definitely bump into others..

He is also meeting up with Belfast’s Lord Mayor, Jim Rodgers and representatives of Belfast City Council who are in Nashville at the same time promoting social and economic links between Northern Ireland through the Sister City initiative.

Oh, and there will be only one Irish government minister at home on St Patrick’s Day. Who is it? Answer below the fold.It’s that man again..

Discover more from Slugger O'Toole

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Recent posts

Brian Pope

The A5. Two Roads – One Destination…

Andy Pollak

Incredulity and despair as the ugly stand-off at Drumcree poisons Northern Ireland once again…

Frank Schnittger

From Drumcree to the Donbas…

We are reader supported. Donate to keep Slugger lit!

For over 20 years, Slugger has been an independent place for debate and new ideas. We have published over 40,000 posts and over one and a half million comments on the site. Each month we have over 70,000 readers. All this we have accomplished with only volunteers we have never had any paid staff.

Slugger does not receive any funding, and we respect our readers, so we will never run intrusive ads or sponsored posts. Instead, we are reader-supported. Help us keep Slugger independent by becoming a friend of Slugger. While we run a tight ship and no one gets paid to write, we need money to help us cover our costs.

If you like what we do, we are asking you to consider giving a monthly donation of any amount, or you can give a one-off donation. Any amount is appreciated. 

Give a monthly donation Give a one-off donation