The Minister of State for Training and Skills, Ciaran Cannon T.D. has praised the work of Ireland's two Confucius Institutes, as he begins taking Mandarin lessons with the UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland.

"Our relations with China have never been more important," Minister Cannon said. "We need to keep up the momentum developed with the Taoiseach's visit to China, and the visit of Vice President Xi Jinping to Ireland."

The Minister talked about his pleasant educational mission to China last year and his visit to Hanban and several other higher education institutions. He said that, "During my education mission to China I was struck by the scale of the opportunity for Ireland in Asia. We must realise however that inter-cultural sensitivity and understanding have never been more important if Irish people and businesses are to succeed in such a vastly different cultural environment." Since May, the UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland has worked with the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment in developing the new unit on Chinese language and culture for transition year students. Minister Cannon spoke highly of this move, and he has already started his Chinese lessons with UCD Confucius Institute. He said that, "Education is one of the strongest links between Ireland and China, and as a Minister in the Department of Education and Skills, I hope to be doing a lot of business with China in the coming years. I want to be able to demonstrate my respect towards the Chinese culture, and show that we are serious about using education as a bridge between our two countries."

The UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland assigned a top Chinese tutor called Ms. Liu Xiangyi from the Institute to give the Minister a one-to-one Chinese course.

Minister Cannon added that, "I want to thank Dr. Hugh Brady, the President of UCD, and Dr. Wang Liming, Director of the UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland, for their work in promoting a better understanding of Chinese culture in Ireland."

"I am delighted the Minister is undertaking this programme," said Dr Hugh Brady, President of UCD. "Through these programmes in the UCD Confucius Institute, we aim to share the richness, nuances and complexities of Chinese and Asian society," he said. "We are in the planning stage of setting up a Beijing-Dublin International campus with our partner institution, the Beijing University of Technology, so I hope that on his next visit to China, the Minister will be able to attend our campus and converse with students in Mandarin."