Dublin City twinned with Ramallah, Palestine

Padraig Conlon 07 Dec 2023

Lord Mayor of Dublin Daithí de Róiste and Mayor Issa Kassis of Ramallah, Palestine at the signing of the City to City Friendship Agreement, alongside Cllr Deirdre Heney, Mary MacSweeney, Executive Manager of Culture, Recreation and Economic Services, Dublin City Council, Cllr Daithí Doolan and Palestinian Ambassador to Ireland Dr Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid. Credit Fennell Photography

Dublin has been twinned with Ramallah after the Lord Mayor of Dublin Daithí de Róiste and Mayor Issa Kassis of Ramallah, Palestine formally signed a City to City Friendship Agreement.

Following a report to the Dublin City Council Protocol Committee in June 2023 it was agreed to proceed with the signing of the Friendship Agreement.

Subsequently the Breviate of the Protocol meeting was adopted at the 6th November 2023 Dublin City Council Meeting.

Areas of possible mutual interest between the two cities include:

Climate Action
Sustainable Transport / Active Travel
Municipal Services in particular waste management
Smart Cities

The Lord Mayor said, “I very much welcome the signing of this Friendship Agreement between our two cities.

“The cities of Dublin and Ramallah agree that both of us will work together to examine issues of common interest and to look for areas of future cooperation.

“The aim of this Friendship Agreement is to contribute to the strengthening of friendly relations between our two cities.”

Ramallah is the 5th city that Dublin has a twinning agreement with. The others are San Jose in the USA (1986), Liverpool (1997), Barcelona (1998), Beijing (2010).

The signing of a formal Twinning agreement facilitates the setting up of a long term, trusting relationship.

Its form and content are not fixed and may be amended depending on the specific nature of the partnership that is being set up according to partners’ wishes.

Twinning can seek to strengthen or develop common interests or express solidarity between the people of the two cities.

There may be opportunities to work on problem solving or develop innovative solutions with partners around key challenges.

A number of visits to Palestine by Councillors and staff from Dublin City Council have been held over the past ten years including in 2017 by Lord Mayor Brendan Carr, in 2018 by Ardmhéara Mícheál Mac Donncha and in 2022 by Lord Mayor Alison Gilliland.