Canadian prime minister Mark Carney will visit Dublin and Mayo next week, in his first trip to Ireland since taking up his role in March 2025. It will be the first bilateral visit to Ireland by a Canadian prime minister in almost ten years, and the first ever official visit to Co Mayo. Carney, a former governor of the Bank of England, will meet Taoiseach Micheál Martin and President Catherine Connolly. He has familial links to Ireland through his grandfather Robert Carney, who was from Aghagower Westport in Co Mayo, and his grandmother Nora Moran, who was from the nearby townland of Mace. He will visit both Ireland and Paris on his way to attend the upcoming 2026 G7 Leader’s Summit in Evian, France. “Ireland and France are two of Canada’s closest and longest-standing partners,” Carney said. “In an increasingly uncertain world, we are deepening these ties – and those across the G7 – to build greater certainty, security, and prosperity for Canadians and our partners across the globe.”His official schedule will see him in Dublin on Saturday, where he will hold a meeting with the Taoiseach and will also be a guest at an official dinner in Dublin Castle. Carney will then travel to Mayo to meet President Connolly. The meeting comes in advance of the ratification of CETA, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, between the EU and Canada. [ Mark Carney tells Irish business leaders of Canada’s desire for closer trade linksOpens in new window ]Earlier this year, a speech that Carney gave at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos attracted international attention, advocating for “middle power” countries to form greater ties. The speech was broadly understood to be prompting countries to form alliances that would allow them rely less on the US. The Taoiseach said he was “looking forward” to meeting Carney. “The prime minister is proud of his Irish heritage, and we will be discussing ways to strengthen our bilateral relations even further,” Martin said. “Canada is an important economic partner for Ireland, with strong trade in goods and services in both directions. CETA is close to be being fully ratified by the Oireachtas, so this is an ideal time to explore further options for economic co-operation across a range of sectors.”The Taoiseach said that he and Carney would also discuss the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. According to the Canadian government, bilateral trade between Canada and Ireland in 2025 was worth about €3.7 billion. During the visit, the Canadian prime minister will focus on “deepening Canada and Ireland’s long-standing cultural and people-to-people ties and expanding ties across agri-food, digital innovation, AI, pharmaceuticals and climate”.