The raising of the Canadian flag by Ambassador Nancy Smyth at the Monaghan Courthouse forecourt in Monaghan Town on Friday last symbolically signified the reinvigoration of the close bonds between the county and her host country which were placed in a state of enforced stasis during the Covid-19 pandemic period. Ambassador Smyth was making her first visit to Co Monaghan since taking up her post in June of 2021. All of her recent predecessors had come to the county in recognition of the twinning relationship established between Monaghan and communities of Irish lineage in Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, and the burgeoning trade links with Canada cultivated by a number of locally based enterprises.
Her busy itinerary accented the county’s tourism magnets, including stopovers at Castle Leslie, the Ulster Canal Stores in Clones, Carrickmacross Workhouse and ‘Blayney’s Concra Wood golf course. The Ambassador told her Monaghan Co Council hosts that she had been deeply impressed in her time here by Ireland’s highly developed sense of community. “Often in this job I have been told of what Canada has done for Ireland,” the Ambassador remarked. “This is an opportunity to thank Ireland for helping to create the Canada we know and love.”
