Last updated in October 2009
Political relations
Germany and Ireland have a tradition of friendly relations. Since Ireland joined the European Community (now the EU) in 1973, both have also cooperated closely at European level. In 1990, during its European Council Presidency, Ireland made a significant contribution to facilitating the completion of German reunification.
The visit to Germany by the Irish President McAleese in February 2008 and the visit to Ireland by Federal Chancellor Merkel in April 2008 as well as regular visits to Ireland by the German Bundestag’s German-Irish Parliamentary Friendship Group, the most recent in October 2008, underline the close and trustful relations between the two countries.
Economic relations
German-Irish economic relations have a long tradition. The highly regarded German-Irish Chamber of Industry and Commerce has been in existence since 1980. More than 300 German companies employing a total workforce of over 20,000, have set up business in Ireland.
In terms of the Irish imports it supplies, Germany is, after the United Kingdom, Ireland’s most important trading partner in Europe.
Germany is the fourth-largest purchaser of Irish products after the United Kingdom, the United States and Belgium. Germany ranks fourth overall among Ireland’s international trading partners in terms of both imports and exports.
According to Ireland’s Central Statistics Office (CSO), in 2008 Ireland exported to Germany goods worth EUR 6.1 billion (2007: EUR 6.7 billion), while German exports to Ireland in 2008 amounted to EUR 4.6 billion (2007: EUR 5.6 billion).
The principal German exports are motor vehicles, chemical products, electronic goods and machinery. Germany’s main imports from Ireland are chemical products, electrical and electronic goods and food.
Following the establishment of the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in Dublin in 1986 with tax privileges (12.5 percent corporate tax since 1 January 2003), over 400 companies in the banking and insurance sectors have located to Dublin, 40 of them from Germany.
Cultural relations
Cultural relations between Germany and Ireland are very close, the vast majority of exchanges between partners in Germany and Ireland being arranged without any government involvement. Germany’s most important institution for fostering cultural exchange with Ireland is the Goethe Institute in Dublin.
Promoting the German language is a priority. The Goethe Institute offers a comprehensive range of language courses and supports German teachers through its educational liaison work. This includes further training for teachers and individual projects for secondary school classes as well as cooperation with the association of teachers of German in Ireland. Two Irish schools have enjoyed intensive support since 2008 as part of the Schools: Partners for the Future initiative.
Irish universities and institutes of technology maintain partnerships with German universities, in some cases with several German universities. As some study courses include an obligatory year abroad, exchanges with German universities, above all as part of the EU’s ERASMUS programme, are very frequent. It is mostly German students that take advantage of this opportunity. Seven German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) teachers of German are currently employed at Irish universities. The DAAD regularly provides annual scholarships for students of German. The University of Limerick has had a centre of German-Irish studies since 1997. Every year, the Educational Exchange Service (PAD) of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the Federal German States (KMK) invites five Irish secondary school students who have achieved the best results in German nationwide in their Junior Certificate to visit Germany as award-winners. A further 24 secondary school students are given the opportunity to take part in lessons at German schools for a period of three weeks under a language promotion programme. In addition, under the 1983 German-Irish Cultural Agreement, German students of English are placed in Irish schools as assistant language teachers, and Irish assistant language teachers are assigned to German schools by the PAD.
Of great importance for bilateral cultural relations is the German School in Dublin, St Kilian’s. This private school under Irish law, at which all subjects are taught in German, receives support from Germany.
The agreement on a bilingual leaving certificate, which entitles school-leavers from St. Kilian’s to study at a university in Ireland and Germany without taking further examinations, entered into force on 10 April 2008.
Close cooperation has been initiated between St Kilian’s and the Lycée Français. A new school building has been erected on the grounds of the German School for joint use by the two schools. It was officially opened on 22 January 2009.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ireland is active as a German congregation abroad and is led by a married couple in ordained ministry seconded from Germany. The only Lutheran Church in Ireland, it also includes members from Ireland and other countries. A small German-speaking Catholic group has also been in existence since 1999.
