10. What were the outcomes of the Minister's recent visit to Ireland which sought to promote links with Wales? OAQ54121

I met the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Coveney, and reaffirmed the Welsh Government’s commitment to work closely with Ireland whatever the outcome of the Brexit process. I also met a number of investors and representatives from the business community.

I agree with you, Minister, that trade relations with Ireland are really important to our country. I just wondered if you'd had the opportunity to mention to all the people you met something very significant that happened 25 years ago this month. It's something called the Loughinisland massacre, where six civilians were killed and five wounded in a pub while they were watching the world cup. Nobody's ever been prosecuted, but the ombudsman's report in 2016 confirmed there had been collusion between the police and the informers they were using and that destruction of evidence took place. A film about this issue was released in 2017 and subsequently the producers of that film have been arrested on the grounds that they've used information that was leaked to them. But I think it's a very high-profile issue in Ireland, and it was brought over to Cardiff recently by one of the journalists who exposed this. I just wondered if there was an opportunity to discuss this, because, obviously, criminal justice has to be seen to be done and it clearly hasn't been done in this case, because the names of these individuals are widely known in the community in Loughinisland. And I'm sure that the people of Ireland would like the people of Wales to see justice being done in Northern Ireland, because we will never get peace until that happens. 

Thank you. I'm afraid I didn't get an opportunity to bring that up, but I have since looked into that particular instance, which did cause a lot of concern, I'm sure, in Ireland. I think what is important is that, where possible, we really build on the relationships with Ireland. You had the opportunity to meet with the Irish consul that I introduced you to, who's new to Wales. We're very pleased that the consulate has been reopened, because what that does is to give us an opportunity to build on our Welsh export growth, which has been significant. It's 50 per cent higher today than it was in 2017. It's the fourth largest export market that we have, and we've seen a 60 per cent growth in visitor numbers from Ireland. But it's absolutely right, when there are issues relating to justice, and it is important that we look at that, another thing that I've learnt in recent weeks is that, actually, the relationship with the Bala area was significant because a lot of people from the Irish uprisings were actually imprisoned in that area after that event. So, those links are things that, actually, are really important to the people of that country and we need to build on them and build on those relationships, because that shared history is something that I think is very valued. 

Thank you very much, Minister.