Based on the lived experience in Northern Ireland, there are opportunities for the people of Cyprus to come and work together, as nobody would ever have believed it possible 25 years ago, Mary Butler, Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People of Ireland, told CNA on Friday, following an event organised by the Irish Embassy in Nicosia on the occasion of St. Patrick’s Day, in the presence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Constantinos Kombos and the Minister of Defence Vasilis Palmas.
Visiting Cyprus for the first time, following a stop in Italy for St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, Butler said she has learned a lot about the country’s history and the division it has experienced, adding that Ireland has went through similar challenges and has come out on the other side.
She added that she wants to send a note of hope, in favour of true dialogue and true consultation, supporting communities on both sides, as Ireland did 25 years ago when the Good Friday Agreement was put in place, the first step in
having harmony on the island.
There have still been difficulties since that truce happened, she continued, adding that from a political perspective truce was re-established six weeks ago with the restoration of the Assembly and the Executive in Northern Ireland.
According to Butler, one of the things that the Irish government has done over the last three and a half years was the creation of the Shared Ireland initiative within the Irish Prime Minister’s office, providing funding of pound 1 billion up to 2030, 450 million of which have already been allocated for activities such as the renovation of the Casement Park stadium in Northern Ireland in view of the Euro 2028 football championship hosted by the UK and Ireland.
She also said she agrees with what the Foreign Minister Kombos said that Cyprus cannot afford to waste a generation to push the case for an agreement such as the one achieved in Ireland 25 years ago, adding that there is an urgency about what needs to be achieved to have harmony on the island
.
The Irish Minister added she also met with the Minister of Health Michael Damianos on Friday morning, with whom she said she discussed her role as Minister for Older People and the new mental health policy the government of Ireland has been implementing during the last three years, with the establishment of an oversight committee that holds accountable the competent minister, the Department of Health and the Health Services executives, setting short-, medium- and long-term goals over a period of ten years.
She added she will be visiting a nursing home in Nicosia on Saturday, noting that Ireland has a social model supporting older people to age in their own home as long as possible which has attracted the interest of many member states. She also said that older people have suffered a lot during the COVID19 pandemic, having lost in many cases their confidence to step back into the world, coupled with a negative impact on their wellbeing as a whole.
As regards bilateral cooperation, Butler said that it is v
ery strong, citing the common planning efforts for the two countries’ respective EU Presidencies, both taking place in 2026, and the recent joint visit of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot politicians to Northern Ireland.
Butler also expressed her gratitude to the people of Cyprus for their cooperation in efforts to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, adding that the Irish government has provided additional funding to UNRWA and has partnered with Jordan to organise parachute drops of food to Gaza, while the Irish Prime Minister is meeting the American President in Washington this weekend, raising humanitarian concerns about the suffering of women and children.
‘We can’t have a situation where people are so worried about famine and access to clean water, where babies are being born and operations are taking place without anaesthesia, there is genuine concern in Ireland about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, but also in relation to Ukraine and Russia’, she stressed.
In closing, the Irish Minis
ter said that based on the lived experience in Northern Ireland there are opportunities for the people of Cyprus to come and work together, as nobody would ever have believed it possible that they could come to a resolution, and conveyed the Irish government’s full support in efforts to agree a solution and live together in peace and prosperity.
In his address at the beginning of the event, Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said that Cyprus and Ireland have maintained their joint position as regards common values, democracy, human rights and the commitment to public international law.
He also highlighted the excellent level of bilateral relations, which he said can be developed further in areas such as tourism, education and trade, and thanked Ireland for its consistent principled position as regards the Cyprus problem.
He expressed the hope that the arrival of the UN Secretary General’s Personal Envoy there is a possibility to examine whether we can get to the next level which leads to the negotiating
table and reiterated the government’s commitment to the settlement of the Cyprus problem within the UN Security Council’s parameters.
‘We don’t have a generation to waste, we have to act now and our commitment to doing that is crystal clear’, continued Kombos, adding that there are always useful lessons to be learned from previous experiences in cases such as that of Northern Ireland.
Source: Cyprus News Agency