‘We can’t sit back in 2016’

US ambassador Kevin O’Malley has thoroughly enjoyed his time in Ireland since arriving here in October 2014. “I can say without fear of contradiction that Ireland is the most welcoming and warm place I have ever been in my life,” he says. “That’s an absolute ‘take-it-to-the-grave’ truth. People have gone out of their way to be so welcoming and kind to me since I arrived here as the representative of President Obama.”

A frequent visitor to Ireland prior to his appointment, he has found his stint as ambassador quite special. “It’s more fun to visit as US ambassador,” he notes with a hint of humour. “There have been many great moments bordering on priceless including my very first visit as ambassador. The protocol when you arrive is that you visit the head of state and present your credentials from your head of state. In my case, I was presenting my credentials from President Obama to President Higgins. That was the day after I arrived in Ireland and I was still a little bit jet-lagged.

“As we stood on President Higgins’s balcony in Áras an Uachtaráin looking across at my new home in the Phoenix Park, a small company of soldiers from Cork in full dress played my national anthem. At that moment, all I could see were my grandparents’ faces. I knew them both; they came from Westport and emigrated to the United States. What would they think if they could see their grandson representing the country which had given them refuge to the country of their birth? When you think of it. In just two generations I got to come back as the representative of my country. That says a great deal about Irish DNA and the opportunities which exist in the US.”

This has resonances in the present day. “As we approach the 4th of July when we celebrate our independence and the freedoms we have in the US, you think about how two penniless emigrants with seven children could survive and prosper in a new land. That certainly gives you pause for thought. But this is not an uncommon story and it is one of the reasons the Irish-US relationship works so well; there is so much shared DNA between our two countries.”

Another stand-out moment for O’Malley came during a visit to an archaeological dig in Roscommon last year. “The dig was being carried out by a group of American and Irish students. As we pulled into the town, the streets were lined with schoolchildren waving American flags. That was a really touching moment for my wife and I. Ireland is the most welcoming place on earth and all my colleagues and other visitors from the US who I have met all talk about that.”

The economic recovery which has gathered pace since his arrival has also impressed him. “As I look at what’s happening here in Ireland and I see such creativity, a great spirit of entrepreneurship, and such mature risk-taking in business. The feeling is so profound, it is almost palatable. There is a swagger in the step of the Irish people now that the economy is recovering. People not only have jobs, they have good jobs working for internationally renowned companies, creating great products and services and working on world-class projects.”

Looking to the relationship between Ireland and the US, he believes it is as strong as ever but that we can’t afford to be complacent about it. “There is a great relationship between Ireland and the US which began hundreds of years ago with poor emigrants from this country who didn’t forget where they came from. That developed into the enduring economic relationship we have today which is responsible for hundreds of thousands of jobs on both sides of the Atlantic.

“That relationship would be hard to improve on but it is not guaranteed to take us into the future,” he adds. “We can’t sit back in 2016 and say that because there are more than 700 US companies here in Ireland and 250 Irish companies in the US employing more than 250,000 people between them, that the relationship will remain the same. Ireland is changing and becoming more globally focused and the US is changing as well. That’s why the American Embassy has started a programme called Creative Minds. This engages prominent US and Irish innovators and artists to connect the next generation of Irish and American leaders.”

The Creative Minds Series is a cross-cultural programme launched in 2015 byO’Malley which invites prominent US artists, writers, filmmakers, digital culture innovators and musicians to share their experiences with young Irish students and audiences. The mission of the ongoing series is “to find ways to create new collaborations and encourage more creative economic linkages between young people in the United States and Ireland.”

He believes initiatives like this will be vitally important in sustaining the evolving relationship between the two nations. “We can’t rely on shillelaghs, shamrocks, festivals and parties any more. That’s what Creative Minds is all about. We are giving people the chance to meet up and look forward to how the relationship is going to evolve and change and what it will be like in 10 years’ time. Those connections will change in ways we can’t even imagine now. We also want to demonstrate that Ireland has no better friend than the United States of America.”