British tourism agency worked on basis that ‘Ireland did not exist’, Stormont official said

By Jonathan McCambridge, PA

Britain’s tourism agency worked on the basis that “the island of Ireland did not exist”, a senior Stormont civil servant said in 2003.

Declassified files show that Will Haire, an official in the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM), attended the meeting of the Public Diplomacy Strategy Board in the Durbar Conference Room at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in London in February of that year.

The powersharing Executive at Stormont was suspended at the time.

A memo sent to another official records his minutes of the event.

Mr Haire says: “Sitting in the Conference Room from which presumably India was ruled in the late 19th and early 20th century, we had an interesting discussion on what is the current stance of the UK in presenting its public face internationally.

“What came out of the discussion was a push for the focus not just to be on the respect in which the UK wanted to be held, but also on the fact that the UK should be, to some degree, liked for its qualities and principles.

“It is not that the UK knows it all, but that it actually had something to learn from the rest of the world.”

He adds: “Overall, there were some very interesting people at the event.

“John Elvidge represented the Scottish Executive, and spoke with very good sense.

“The British Tourist Authority clearly worked on the basis that the island of Ireland did not exist, although the rest of the meeting did understand the concept of the UK.”

He continues: “On the issue of major campaigns, of which there is a paper, the key points did seem to relate to a need to reach out to the accession member states of the EU, an area which presumably we should have an interest in our inter-regional work.

“Science and technology in the USA was also thought to be of importance, but the hundredth anniversary of the Entente Cordiale went down like a lead balloon.

“This was even before the joys of President Chirac’s intervention on the role of Nato and Turkey last weekend.

“The theme did come through of the need for us to relate to the Moslem world.

“All this points to the issue of our external relations.

“It is difficult to know until we get some more stability, how much we can afford to resource, but it will not go away.”