Spotlight Denmark: Q&A with Adrian McDaid, Ambassador of Ireland to Denmark

Could you share with us a little about your background and when you took up your post in Denmark?

During my career of 42 years in the Irish diplomatic service, I have worked in our missions abroad for 27 years and the remainder of the time in Dublin dealing with a broad range of political, economic and trade issues. I have previously served in Moscow, Baghdad, Brussels, New York and Washington DC.

Immediately before coming to Denmark, I served for four years as Irish Ambassador to the Russian Federation, with side accreditation to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. I arrived in Copenhagen in September 2019 and formally presented my credentials to Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II in December of that year.

What are your impressions of Denmark since moving there?

I have a very positive impression of Denmark in the short time that I have been here. The pandemic has somewhat limited both my outreach and my ability to see as much of the country than I would have liked. I was able, however, to get around in my early months here and hope to do more travel in the near future.

Copenhagen is a very beautiful city with an abundance of green spaces and water everywhere, characteristics that endear it to the significant and active Irish community that calls it home. I have come to learn and appreciate the importance and value of the Danish concept of 'hygge' and the significance attached here to a proper work/life balance. I have much admired, in particular, the prominent leadership role that Denmark plays in the global fight against Climate Change.

What is the significance of the links /importance of the relationship between Ireland and Denmark?

In my time here, I have been much struck by the similarities between Ireland and Denmark, by our strong support of a multilateral rules-based international system and by the shared values which we promote. We often find ourselves working closely together within the EU, which we both joined on the same day in 1973 in the first enlargement of the then European Communities. We have also cooperated within the United Nations, including in UN peacekeeping operations and in the projects we undertake in developing countries in pursuit of the SDGs.

We are both small northern European countries shaped by the sea and by our outreach to the world.  While Denmark was an independent kingdom long before Ireland won its own independence just a century ago, our peoples have been entwined since the Viking settlements began in the 9th century.

Our cooperation in the extraordinary project concerning the Sea Stallion of Glendalough, a reconstructed Viking ship, had a particular symbolism in celebrating that joint historical experience and honouring the links established with the descendants of those Viking settlers who we are proud to call friends and partners in the modern world. As one of our greatest Irish poets and Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney has said, the long ship was like a great needle which threaded together a common heritage for the different peoples and cultures of the North Atlantic.

What do you think the future holds for the relationship between Ireland and Denmark?

I believe that we can both look forward to a close partnership and to a bright future marked by recovery and resilience. It is true that Ireland and Denmark, as open globalised economies, are dependent on external trade and other flows. We will be affected by the extent and speed of the economic recovery of our major trading partners. However, the strength of our respective economies as we faced into the daunting challenges of the pandemic last year, perhaps helped us to weather the storm better than some others and will serve us well for the future.

Our joint membership of the European Union will always remain important to our economic recovery and our future interactions. Developments within the EU, not least the very significant financial recovery package agreed by the European Council last summer, will play a major role in this regard. I believe that in the post-Brexit world we have a strong mutual interest in working to strengthen our bilateral relationship as we are like-minded on so many things.

As for our business connections, I think there are particular opportunities in such areas as the hi-tech construction & data centres, digital technologies, as well as energy and clean tech, which may offer good prospects for future partnerships. The opening of the new Enterprise Ireland Office in Copenhagen in 2019 was important both in helping to consolidate the rapid growth of our trade in recent years and as a concrete symbol of our ambitions for the future.