Those acquainted with the @Sweden project will recognise how much it has inspired us with @Ireland. In December, VisitSweden and the Swedish Institute launched the @Sweden account – “the world’s most democratic” Twitter account. This idea really resonated here at WorldIrish. In January, well-known blogger Bernie Goldbach, who created the @Ireland account many years ago, came to us. Having seen what @Sweden had done he thought WorldIrish would be good custodians of the @Ireland account.

One of the key differences between @Ireland and @Sweden is that our curators will come from not only the island of Ireland but the wider global Irish. As we well know, today’s Ireland has spread to the four corners of the globe. The purpose of the account is not a tourism drive but a way of connecting with the world. Ireland is a global country and Twitter is a global platform.

We’re looking for curators. If you or someone you know has something interesting to say for a week please apply or nominate via [email protected]. It’s up to Ireland to decide how it’s represented on Twitter!

We’re so excited to see how this evolves and hear from a range of different voices. It seemed only appropriate that Bernie should be the first curator of @Ireland. Bernie has led a very interesting life arriving in Ireland in the 1990s. He teaches a class of students in Limerick Institute of Technology, which is a lot different from many years ago when he was in the US Air Force where he put in 3,500 flying hours training pilots and flying classified missions. We think he has something interesting to tell people and will make a great voice for Ireland this week.

Follow Bernie and all the other curators of @Ireland and learn more about the project here.

We’re very busy working away on building version one of WorldIrish.com and we expect to launch with it this summer. But, for now, we’re delighted to bring this new perspective on Ireland to Twitter in time for St Patrick’s Day.