At 11pm on 2 December 2025 the aircraft of the President of Ukraine landed at Dublin Airport bringing President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenksa on a state visit to Ireland where they were greeted by Ireland’s Taoiseach Micheal Martin. During the visit President Zelenskyy addressed the Oireachtas, held meetings with the Irish government and was welcomed to Áras an Uachtaráin by the President of Ireland Catherine Connolly and was greeted by a guard of honour from the Irish army alongside the Irish defence force chief of staff as part of his state visit.
Contrasting states
As a Welshman who supports Welsh independence and wants Cymru to be an independent sovereign nation state like Ireland, I will admit this visit has made me a little bit envious of Ireland. It highlights a fundamental difference. Cymru and Ireland are both countries but Ireland is a sovereign country and has the trappings of a proper state. It can invite dignitaries like presidents and prime ministers for state visits as well as official visits where it can talk to them as an equal. It has a voice in the world, with its own representatives with 66 embassies, 14 consulates and 7 other diplomatic missions around the world. 71 countries have their own embassies and missions in Ireland. It has its own head of state that can greet visiting leaders and can go to other countries and perform state visits as well and of course it has its own armed forces that can perform the ceremonial duties during such visits. Whereas Wales doesn’t even control of its own police force and its head of state barely visits the country let alone resides in it. Not even the Prince of Wales lives in Wales.
There is no doubt that Cymru and Ireland are in very different places constitutionally. Wales has very limited powers to represent itself on the world stage and must rely on the UK to represent it.
While it has virtually no voice on the world stage. Cymru does have some powers when it comes to international relations. At the moment international relations is part of the first minister’s portfolio but it has in the past been a standalone portfolio with its own dedicated minister between 2018-21 when Eluned Morgan was the minister for international relations and the Welsh language.
Wales on the international stage
If Wales sees itself as a country, then it’s time for the next Welsh government to bring back a dedicated international relations minister and this is something a possible future Plaid Cymru government must strive to do. That person’s role should then be to represent and promote Wales internationally as much as possible. There’s no doubt devolution will place limits on what the government can do but the Welsh government must look to using the Welsh government offices abroad. These could be expanded especially in Europe to include the Nordics, Baltics and Eastern Europe. But Welsh ministers could also conduct foreign visits to focus on engaging with other countries and inviting heads of governments, heads of states, foreign ministers and ambassadors to visit Wales. Devolution should be pushed to its limits, and state visits should be requested. Currently only the UK government and Foreign Office can get the king to issue the invitation but there’s no reason why a Welsh government can’t at least ask for the king to host a state visit in Wales for a foreign head of state like the President of Ireland with all that a state visit entails. It doesn’t have to be extravagant like they are at Westminster and can be a simpler affair.
Wales as a country needs to promote itself and needs to engage with other countries as a state within its own right and be able to represent itself on the international stage. Wales has sport teams that do that but that’s still limited. Any serious government of Cymru should look to have a dedicated international relations minister and should seek to emulate Ireland and other states and hold formal state visits. Its time Wales started to act like the state we want it to become.
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