NICOLA Sturgeon will present the case for independence at an international event organised by a major European media outlet later this month amid a growing interest overseas in Scotland’s future.
The move follows increased reporting and commentary in global newspaper and television forums – including on CNN – with the nation’s constitutional debate and the tensions among the four parts of the UK since the Brexit referendum in 2016 and the eventual departure from the single market on December 31.
With a series of polls showing majority of support for Scotland leaving the UK to rejoin the EU as an independent member state, the First Minister is headlining the event where she will speak on Scottish independence, Brexit and the state of the Union when she takes part in the online Irish Times’s Winter Nights Festival. She will be in conversation with the celebrated Irish Times columnist and author Fintan O’Toole.
READ MORE: Top German newspaper puts spotlight on Scottish independence and UK collapse
Taoiseach Micheal Martin, European Commissioner Mairead McGuiness and actor Gabriel Byrne will also be taking part in the event organised by the Dublin-based newspaper from January 25 to 29.
The First Minister last week published an opinion piece in the Irish Times and other newspapers on the continent including in one of the main French titles Le Figaro and NRC Handelsblad in the Netherlands.
The piece was also published in Germany’s Der Spiegel, Italy’s Corriere della Sera as well as publications in Belgium, Lithuania and Poland.
Commenting on her appearance at the Irish Times’s event Neale Richmond, the Fine Gael Dublin TD, said people in Ireland and across the EU were “fascinated” by Scottish politics.
Richmond said: “The First Minister’s recent opinion piece in the Irish Times was received very well. We in Ireland and indeed across the EU are fascinated by the internal politics in Scotland especially following the Brexit process.
“Scotland is a proud European nation and has huge ties to so many EU member states on a direct bilateral level.
“It is important for us to hear Scotland’s distinct position on life post Brexit and how those bilateral ties can be maintained, even strengthened, post Brexit.”
He added: “Many Irish citizens have made Scotland their home, plenty of us have family there.
“We want to know what the near future holds for them.”
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon makes case for Scottish independence in Irish Times column
Alyn Smith, the SNP MP for Stirling, the party’s spokesman on international relations at Westminster and a former MEP, said EU states were very much aware that Scotland did not support Brexit.
Smith said: “Nicola’s prominence is indicative of the interest in Scotland across Ireland and the wider EU.
“Fintan O’Toole is one of the best observers of European politics ... and I will certainly be tuning in as it will be a very significant and interesting conversation.”
Smith continued: “There is a keen awareness across the EU that Scotland is different in our attitude to the EU than the UK ... that we are pro European and keen to participate in international solidarity which the UK has just demonstrated it isn’t.”
Sturgeon was hailed as a "shining light" in world affairs by Irish leaders in November 2016 when she addressed the Irish Parliament's upper House in Dublin, as they urged Scotland to "achieve its inevitable and full potential" and become an independent nation.
In remarkable scenes of solidarity with the Yes movement they asked the First Minister what help they could give to hasten independence and heaped scorn on the "lies" of the "racist" Leave campaign.
During the session Irish Senator Aodhán Ó Ríordáin launched a strong attack the Leave campaign for its "racist lies" and praised the First Minister for advancing progressive views.
"Let us remind ourselves that the European Union arose at a time of great division, war, pain, death and suffering. It appears that it is now turning in on itself on the basis, in respect of the Brexit campaign, of a racist lie on the part of those who pretend to care about public services but who really have a xenophobic heart," he said.
"The Scottish First Minister is ranged against it, for which we commend her. At this time of great uncertainty and fear, a time when people are facing off against each other and leadership is needed, she is a shining light not only on these islands and across Europe but also across the world."
He added: "As the inevitable reaches its conclusion and Scotland takes its place among the nations of the world and its self-determination becomes a reality, it should know that in these Houses and this country it will have the closest of allies, not just on the basis of national self-determination but also because of what we must give to the world, namely, our belief systems and values."
Senator Mark Daly stated: "One hundred years ago Ireland was continuing on its long road to independence following the 1916 Rising. I hope Scotland's journey to independence will not take 100 years.
"The nationalism espoused by Vladimir Putin, Marine Le Pen and Donald Trump is corrosive, but the civic nationalism espoused by the Scottish First Minister - fairness, progressive democracy and social justice - is positive."
Asked about the First Minister's forthcoming participation in the Irish Times's event, a Scottish Government spokesman said she had been invited to take part in the festival by the newspaper and that she had accepted the invitation.
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