Poland is going green for St. Patrick’s Day!

Festiwal Świętego Patryka will take place across Poland to celebrate Ireland’s national day on 17 March

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St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in Poland and around the world every year. This year’s Festiwal Świętego Patryka is bigger and better than ever before! Events will take place across the country and Polish cities will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by turning landmark buildings green on 17 March. Minister Damien English will represent the Irish Government in Poland over the St. Patrick’s Day period.

Festiwal Świętego Patryka

A calendar of events taking place around Poland for St. Patrick’s Day can be found on the Embassy’s website and on a dedicated Facebook page. You can follow news about Festival events on Twitter with #swPatryk.

Launching Festiwal Świętego Patryka 2017, Ambassador Gerard Keown said:

‘It’s wonderful to see St. Patrick’s Day being celebrated in more towns and cities in Poland than ever. It shows the very strong ties of friendship between Ireland and Poland. We are especially looking forward to welcoming Minister Damien English to Poland for the St. Patrick’s Day period to further build on excellent Irish-Polish relations and to promote trade between our two countries’.

A highlight of this year’s calendar will be the twentieth annual Irish Ball organised by the St. Patrick’s Foundation. The Irish Ball has raised 3.5 million złoty for Polish charities over the past twenty years.

Global Greening

Eleven Polish cities will turn landmarks green for St. Patrick’s Day. Polish landmarks will join the Empire State Building in New York, the Colosseum in Rome, the Great Wall of China and Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio de Janeiro, as well as many other landmarks around the world, in the famous Global Greening campaign.

Landmarks in Poland taking part in the Global Greening campaign:

There are direct flights from Ireland to nine of these cities.

Ireland-Poland Relations

Damien English, Minister for Housing and Urban Renewal, will visit Poland over the St. Patrick’s Day period as part of the Government’s ‘Promoting Ireland’ programme for 2017. Minister English will take part in business events to promote trade between Ireland and Poland, which reached record levels last year. He will also attend the twentieth annual Irish Ball in Warsaw. The Ball is organised by the voluntary St. Patrick’s Foundation to raise money for Polish charities and is attended by over 500 guests.

St. Patrick’s Day follows a visit to Poland by Ireland’s Prime Minister (Taoiseach), Enda Kenny, in February 2017. The Taoiseach met with Prime Minister Beata Szydło in Warsaw to discuss the excellent relations between Ireland and Poland, closely linked by the Polish community in Ireland, and increasing trade flows between the two countries.

Two-way trade between Ireland and Poland was worth over €3 billion in 2015 and is growing by over 15% every year. There are over 60 flights each week connecting Ireland to eleven Polish cities. During his visit to Poland, the Taoiseach outlined how Ireland has become one of the most innovative economies in the world and urged cooperation between Irish and Polish entrepreneurs and academics.

The Taoiseach also opened the new Bord Bia (Irish Food Board) office in Warsaw. Irish food exports to Poland were worth €185 million in 2016, an increase of 14%. St. Patrick’s Day is the perfect occasion to try delicious and sustainable Irish food!

The popularity of St. Patrick’s Day and Irish culture in Poland is helped by the strong people-to-people ties between Ireland and Poland. Up to 150,000 Poles live in Ireland, where they are very welcome. The annual Polska Éire Festival celebrates the contribution of Polish people to Irish society and the strength of Irish-Polish friendship.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from the Embassy of Ireland!