British-Irish summit in Cardiff

What a fantastic and fascinating evening and dinner with the British Irish Council at Cardiff Castle yesterday. Thanks to the Rt Hon Rhodri Morgan AM, First Minister for Wales, for hosting this and for inviting me. It was the precursor to the Council's meeting today, comprised of the British and Irish Governments, the devolved administrations of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. On this occasion Phil Jarrold, WCVA Deputy Chief Executive, and I went as guests.

I shared a dinner table with Ieuan Wyn Jones AM (Deputy First Minister, Welsh Assembly Government); Rt Hon Jeffrey Donaldson MP MLA (Member of Parliament and Member of the Legislative Assembly, Northern Ireland); Kevin Brennan MP (Minister for the Third Sector, Westminster); Deputy Hunter Adam (Minister for Health and Social Services, the States of Guernsey); Nicola Sturgeon MSP (Deputy First Minister, the Scottish Parliament); Gearoid McNamara (Consul General to Wales, Republic of Ireland); Hugh Rawlings (Director of the Constitutional Affairs, Equality and Communication Department, Welsh Assembly Government); Tim Barraclough (Scottish Executive); Judith Simpson (clerk of the Privy Council). I sat next to Hunter Adam, with whom I discussed voluntary sector data for Wales and medical charges. Hugh Rawlings was on my other side and we talked about interesting things at some length. I also took a chance to feed into a conversation with Kevin Brennan MP and we touched on the European Year of Volunteering in 2011.

Cardiff Castle itself is a beautiful setting for a dinner and the food was delicious. We had:

Monkfish Terrine
Brecon gin and lemon sorbet
Roast Fillet of Celtic Pride Beef
Bara Brith mousse
Welsh cheese board
coffee
Penderyn single malt Welsh whisky or Merlyn Welsh cream liqueur
wine

Once the dinner was over we went back to the St David's Hotel in Cardiff Bay where I sat up talking with a number of people until about 2.45am. Now I am home and a little tired...