Diprwy Lywydd, each summit focuses on a particular strand within the work of the council. The Cardiff summit took as its theme support for minority, indigenous and lesser used languages, with specific reference to early years and childcare policy. In leading this item, we were able to draw on the pioneering work in Wales on early years language education.

In keeping with this theme of the summit, and in line with the way we work in Wales as a bilingual nation, the plenary discussions were conducted on a multilingual basis. For the first time at a summit of the BIC, there was simultaneous interpretation from Welsh, Irish and Gaelic into English, which enabled delegations from Wales, Scotland, and Ireland to make contributions to the discussions using their own languages. I was also delighted that contributions in Manx, Jèrriais, and Guernésiais also featured during our conversations, which further demonstrated the rich linguistic diversity across these islands.