Government releases St Patrick’s Day video to mark solidarity with Ukraine

‘Greeting from Ireland to the world’ is set to sound of Paul Brady’s 1985 song The Island

The Department of Foreign Affairs has released a video for St Patrick’s Day to mark “Ireland’s solidarity with Ukraine”. Video: DFA

Click here to watch the Saint Patrick’s Day video released by the Government of the Republic of Ireland.

A greeting from Ireland to the world released by the Department of Foreign Affairs on the eve of St Patrick’s day has been viewed close to a million times and liked, shared and commented on by thousands of people across social media platforms in just a matter of hours.

The video, featuring Paul Brady’s The Island, lasts just under three minutes and documents the birth of the nation and the role Ireland has played on the world stage – in the corridors of power in the EU and UN and on the streets, sands and seas of conflict and humanitarian crisis all over the world.

As it comes to an end, the mood shifts from one of national pride to something quite different and more current.

A handful of the heart-breaking imagines of families across Ukraine fleeing the Russian assault in recent days are juxtaposed with Irish buildings illuminated in the blue and yellow of that country as Brady sings about “women and children dying in the streets”.

“On this St Patrick’s Day, Ireland stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and people everywhere in crisis,” the text reads .”We are thinking of you.”