Miami and Ireland: Working on strengthening ties | Opinion

Just over 100 years ago, the fledgling Irish Free State sent Timothy Smiddy to Washington, D.C.

Ambassador Smiddy was the new Irish state’s first-ever diplomatic representative, taking up duty in the first country to formally recognize the newly independent Irish State.

For Ireland, taking our place among the nations of the world meant taking our place in Washington, D.C.

Today, our ties have grown, so too has our footprint and we are now represented at consulates in Miami, New York, Boston, Atlanta, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Austin. Through our expanding diplomatic network, we have woven new cultural, economic and people-to-people threads into the tapestry of our relationship.

In our newest U.S. mission in Miami, my colleague, our Consul General Sarah Kavanagh, is working daily to strengthen Ireland’s deep political, economic, cultural and community links in Florida.

Ireland’s deep ties with the U.S. stretch back beyond the founding of our respective countries. Three of the fifty-six signatories of the Declaration of Independence were born on the island of Ireland: Thomas McKean, Charles Carroll, and James Smith.

Irish independence owes much to the ideals of liberty, democracy and equality of opportunity so eloquently expressed in this country. As I reflect on 100 years of Irish-U.S. diplomatic relations, it is clear that our histories are interwoven because our people are so deeply intertwined.

Today, 31.5 million people claim Irish ancestry in the U.S.. Over the years, as our people traveled back and forth across the Atlantic, they carried with them what was precious, including their hopes, their beliefs and their values.

The U.S.’s deep and sustained engagement with Northern Ireland has been one of the most significant success stories in American foreign policy. It is, quite simply, a signal achievement of administrations from both sides of the aisle.

U.S. support for the “just and peaceful solution” that President Ronald Reagan spoke of on St. Patrick’s Day 1981 came from both sides of the aisle. Countless visits over the years by U.S. elected officials showed the people of Ireland, north and south, that they would not tread the path to peace alone.

At the most critical junctures in the 1990s, the intervention of the U.S. drove the process forward when few others could have done so. U.S. influence brought reluctant personalities and parties back to the table when the talks process seemed on the verge of collapse. We needed you.

Together, we have built the basis for a bright and prosperous future.

A century ago, when the U.S. first recognized Ireland as an independent state, we were a small, poor country on the edge of Europe.

When our diplomats first came to Washington, D.C., one of their earliest priorities was to secure a pathway to a better life in America for those who could not find work at home. While we no longer emigrate in the numbers that we once did, we want to work to continue to offer opportunities for our people to experience our respective cultures.

Now, Ireland is one of the most prosperous, creative and dynamic economies in the world. It is a place where people from across the globe move in search of a better life. The United States has played an essential role in this transformation.

U.S. investment in Ireland remains an essential part of our prosperity. Today, 100 years later, Ireland is the seventh largest source of Foreign Direct Investment in the U.S. with more than $320 billion spent in 2023.

More than 700 Irish firms employ more than 100,000 people across the U.S. Our economic connections have strengthened the relationship between both our countries.

We want to work to continue to grow the opportunities for people to experience our respective cultures.

As we enter the second century of our relationship with the U.S., we look forward to working with the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.

Our government and people will work again to strengthen and enhance the bond between the U.S. and Ireland, which President Trump said: “thrives, inspires and endures.”

And, together, I am confident we will succeed.

Geraldine Byrne Nason is Ireland’s Ambassador to the United States.

This story was originally published December 24, 2024 at 9:22 AM.