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Thursday, March 04, 2010
Creative side to the fore
THE WEALTH of artistic talent in the Gorey area could lead to permanent links being forged with Gorey in the coming months and years.
Dr. Zion Evrony, Israeli ambassador to Ireland, held a round-table discussion in Gorey last week and said he wanted to be practical about the issues they were dealing with and asked for concrete proposals to be sent to him so he could pass them on to the relevant people.
Eamon Carter, from the Gorey School of Art, addressed the discussion with the ambassador and highlighted what the town has to offer.
“There has been a long history of fine art and visual art in Gorey. We had a nominee [Michael Warren] for the Wolf Award and he is now one of our tutors.” Mr. Carter also pointed out that the school is commencing a Masters in Fine Art in October in conjunction with the National College of Art and Design.
“We feel as if we are doing something right and would like to look in to a possible student exchange between here and Israel.”
Dr. Evrony responded: “Send me a letter with a proposal and I will send it on to art colleges in Israel. We need to be practical.”
Asked by Mayor Cllr. Colin Webb what the embassy could do to foster trade links, Dr. Evrony mentioned that an official in the embassy could be of great help to the business community in Gorey.
“We have a trade officer in the embassy since it was established in 1994 and his job is to make these individual cases. He continuously receives enquiries from Israel business people who are looking to invest in Ireland.”
Dick White of the Gorey Chamber of Commerce officially extended an invite to the trade officer to come down to North Wexford to meet the business people of the area and said he would have the letter on Dr. Evrony’s desk that afternoon.
County manager Eddie Breen told the meeting he would give “unstinting support” to any businesses looking to set up in Wexford.
“I am pledging our support to you,” he told the ambassador.
“I am very impressed with your open approach. Any business opportunity that might exist or any synergy between us and entrepreneurs in your country would be warmly welcomed.”
When asked how the tourism sector may benefit from Israel, Dr. Evrony said Ireland had only recently discovered as a destination by Israelis.
“Ireland is one of the recently discovered destinations for Israelis. The problem here is that more advertising needs to be done in Israel about the special events taking place in Ireland such as the Wexford Opera Festival.”
The ambassador said he would look into the possibility of setting up a connection between a region in Israel and Wexford Area Tourism.
Calling Israel the Silicon Valley of the Middle East, Dr. Evrony said his country was a modern state with freedom of speech and freedom of religious beliefs.
He espoused the benefits of visiting his country, describing it as a spiritual experience.
Dr. Evrony was present with a photograph from artist Paul Carter which depicts Courtown Harbour.
“I will hang it on my wall and will always think of my trip down here.”
Cllr. Webb and Dr. Evrony both pointed out the similarities between the two states, including the fact that both moved from a rural economy to a technology-based economy.
Dr. Evrony also pointed out that Ireland has won four Nobel prizes for literature and Israel has won four for science as well as three for peace.
An embargo on Irish beef being sold in Israel has been lifted recently and it was now a time for Irish farmers to gain back the market lost to South American beef during the ban. “There are ways to open the market to Irish beef,” he added.
The ambassador presented a ceramic plate from Jerusalem to the town council and also presented a number of copies of a recently published book with all the facts and figures about his home country.
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