I welcome the Spanish ambassador to Ireland, H.E. Ildefonso Castro. He is most welcome to the Seanad on the National Day of Spain. It is a day of recognition of the genuine democratic nature of modern Spain. This year also commemorates another significant event. It marks 530 years since the expedition of Christopher Columbus reached America. This year also marks the 500th anniversary of Juan Sebastián de Elcano's first circumnavigation of the globe. We share a long and distinguished history and friendship dating to the 16th century with the Treaty of Dingle, in my county, which was signed in 1529. Throughout our shared history, there has been constant communication and travel. Our pilgrims have travelled the Camino de Santiago, going to the city where the ambassador went to university. He is familiar with our weather, having described the weather in his part of Spain as "Galway weather". It is weather he is very much used to. It was that part of the world the earls went to during the Flight of the Earls, and the Irish colleges founded there helped to preserve the distinct cultural identify and facilitated Ireland's engagement with the wider world.

There are more than 40,000 Irish citizens living in Spain and nearly 12,000 Spanish citizens living in Ireland, and they are most welcome. We hold the second largest share of the EU market in the teaching of English with 35,000 Spanish students coming here to learn the English language annually. Their presence adds to our society and economy, but their interaction with our students is also deeply appreciated and we build on that connection. The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, spent some of his adolescence in Ireland. He was one of those students who came here and probably spent some time on Grafton Street. He is, as are thousands of Spanish students, familiar with Ireland.

On Spain's national day, I thank the ambassador for coming to Seanad Éireann. We greatly appreciate his presence and thank him for coming.