Guernesiais heard at British-Irish Council Summit

Saturday 20 November 2021

Deputy Mark Helyar spoke Guernesiais yesterday at a meeting of British and Irish leaders to discuss indigenous languages, post-covid recovery and climate change.

The 36th British-Irish Council Summit was hosted by the First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford. Other attendees included Ireland's Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, and Tánaiste, Leo Varadker, and the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon.

Deputy Helyar attended the meeting remotely from Guernsey. He was standing in for Deputy Peter Ferbrache, the President of the Policy & Resources Committee, who has covid-19.

"It was an honour to be able to address the Summit today in Guernesiais, demonstrating support for our linguistic heritage at a meeting of this level, alongside other[s]…who addressed the meeting in their own indigenous languages," said Deputy Helyar.

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There was discussion on the acquisition of minority and indigenous languages in childhood. The States said: "This provided an opportunity to discuss a range of initiatives being implemented and learn from the work currently being undertaken in the other member administrations, which could support the promotion of Guernesiais locally.

"Member administrations discussed the continuing impact of covid-19 on their jurisdictions and the progress of post-pandemic recovery programmes, including areas of coherence across the member administrations.

"Member administrations also picked up from previous discussions at the virtual Summit hosted by the Northern Ireland Executive in June 2021 on relations between the UK and EU, including the implementation of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The importance of progressing work to tackle climate change was also discussed, following on from the COP26 conference in Glasgow."

Pictured: Deputy Mark Helyar, Treasury Lead for the Policy & Resources Committee, represented Guernsey at the 36th British-Irish Council Summit.

Deputy Helyar spoke of  "limiting climate change, including the creation of a pathway to net zero emissions by 2050" and said this "is a key area of focus for the States of Guernsey".

"The discussion today on actions to address and respond to climate change provided a welcome follow up from developments at COP26 including the agreement in principle we have reached with the UK to extend the Paris Agreement to Guernsey," he said.

Guernsey will host the next British-Irish Council Summit in 2022.

"I look forward to the BIC forum continuing to develop and evolve as the political relationships between its member administrations adapt following the UK’s exit from the EU, and to Guernsey continuing to play its part including hosting the next Summit in 2022," said Deputy Helyar.