The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Frances Fitzgerald T.D., last night (Thursday) launched a joint initiative between the U.S. Embassy and the Ireland United States Alumni Association (IUSA). The new Prominent Alumni Lecture Series aims to highlight Irish alumni who have participated in U.S. government sponsored educational and professional exchanges over the past 60 years who have gained prominence in their field of work or study.
Minister Fitzgerald delivered the inaugural lecture of the series, which took place in the American Embassy. In her address she stated;
“Only two people get to live permanently in the Phoenix Park; our President and the representative of your president. It’s a unique gesture of familiarity and admiration, yet at this stage we just take it for granted. Because we share a bond of extraordinary closeness. It is more than friendship, it’s family. That’s not just my view, it’s what you’re own president has made clear.
“I suspect Ireland is the only country outside the G20 to be visited by one out of every two presidents since the 1960’s. The regular visit of an American President is greatly appreciated, but the fact that it happens so regularly is almost taken for granted. Our nations are so close that the terminology of your public service is even used to describe a rite of passage for our young people; to Irish college students “J1” is not a US visa designation, it’s a coming of age. It is yet another example of the interweaving of our nations which we can so easily take for granted.
“The US provides Irish companies with access to a market of 500 million people. Irish companies employ nearly 82,000 Americans across 50 states. To put that in context, more people in the States are employed by Irish companies than by Apple Computers or Delta Airlines.
“The United States is now Ireland’s largest export partner with over 22% of our exports coming to America. And the US is also Ireland’s second largest import partner.
“Failte Ireland has been doing extensive work on attracting American visitors for the Gathering 2013 when we will celebrate what is best about our people, our landscape, our culture, our heritage.
“What makes this Alumni association so important is that it will help to ensure that as Ireland and America look to the future, we don’t take for granted the past and the present. That we continue to debate, laugh, talk and share like the family we have become.”
The lecture series will run on a semi-annual basis with lectures taking place in the spring and fall. Given the broad range of interests of those represented in the alumni network, the aim is for a diverse range of speakers in the series highlighting alumni from a variety of backgrounds - politics, law, journalism, the arts, academia, and social and community organizations. The objective of the IUSA is to promote and champion the relationship between the United States and Ireland, and the lecture series will hopefully serve to further that objective.