On the final day of the State Visit to Ireland, President George Vella visited the Irish Defence Forces Cadet School in the Curragh Camp, where he met with three Maltese officer cadets who are currently undergoing their Cadetship training with the Irish Defence Forces. Second Lieutenant Brandon Spiteri and Second Lieutenant Cain Vella will be commissioning from the 98thCadet Class at the end of March 2023, while Officer Cadet Ismael Camilleri is due to complete the 99thCadet Course at the end of March 2024.
The Armed Forces of Malta’s collaboration with the Irish Defence Forces (IDF) started in 2009. A total of 68 AFM Officer Cadets have graduated from the IDF Army and Naval Academies in Ireland. President Vella noted the strong ties between the Irish Defence Forces and the Armed Forces of Malta, which also include the deployment of AFM personnel to the United Nations peacekeeping operation in Lebanon (UNIFIL) as part of the IRISHPOL Battalion.
Accompanied by the Minister for Inclusion, Voluntary Organisations and Consumer Rights Julia Farrugia Portelli, President Vella had a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence Micheál Martin. The discussion focused on the war in Ukraine, the recent EU-UK agreement on the Northern Ireland Protocol, shared belief in multilateralism, migration, climate change, and the priorities of the two countries in the United Nations Security Council. President Vella thanked Ireland for the knowledge and experiences it shared with Malta before starting its term since Ireland was a non-permanent member before Malta.
The engagements in Dublin also included a visit to EPIC, The Irish Emigration Museum, where President Vella was given an overview of the history of emigration in Ireland and the impact that Irish emigrants had on the world, and a visit to Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSI) – the entity responsible from the mapping of the entire island of Ireland.
