A PROMINENT member of the Kennedy family, the president of Fox Television, a number of major authors and artists, and the presidents of two major US universities are among the 300 people who have agreed to participate in the Global Irish Network.
The Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday published the full list of network members as part of a progress report on the extent to which proposals made at last autumn’s Global Irish Economic Forum in Farmleigh, Dublin, have been implemented.
Last December the Minister for Foreign Affairs wrote to some 360 individuals around the world inviting them to become members of the network.
Formally launched in London last month, the forum now has 300 members drawn from 27 countries.
Participants include Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the former lieutenant governor of the State of Maryland and the daughter of Robert F Kennedy.
Other prominent US-based members are the former chief executive and chairman of Intel Craig Barrett; Loretta Brennan Glucksman, chairman of the America-Ireland Fund; president of Fox TV networks Dennis Swanson; John Hennessy, president of Stanford University; and Jack DeGioia, president of Georgetown University in Washington DC; Norah O’Donnell, chief Washington correspondent with news network, MSNBC; and former US ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley.
Well-known figures from the world of arts, culture and sports include Bob Geldof; Neil Jordan; novelist Colum McCann; Joe Dowling of the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis; theatre director Garry Hynes; Riverdance creators Moya Doherty and John McColgan; golfer Pádraig Harrington; and GAA president Christie Cooney.
Other participants in the network include Willie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways; Alan Joyce, chief executive of Qantas; Tesco chief executive Terence Leahy; Sir Gerry Robinson; and Peter Sutherland of Goldman Sachs. Dermot Desmond, John Magnier and Myles Lee, chief executive of CRH, are among the leading Irish business figures involved in the group.
The progress report was completed last month by a committee, chaired by the secretary general to the Government Dermot McCarthy. It lists some 30 initiatives that have directly or indirectly resulted from the Farmleigh event.
It notes that work has already started to establish an Irish Innovation Centre in California, with the provision of a grant of $250,000 to the Irish Technology Leadership Group in Silicon Valley.
The report also notes that work is under way to set up a Farmleigh Overseas Graduate Programme. “The initial focus of this programme is expected to be in Asia and will provide up to 500 graduate placements once fully operational,” it states.
Riverdance founder John McColgan has agreed to take the lead on a private sector idea to create a high-quality portal website for Ireland. No date has yet been announced for its launch.
Under the culture heading, the report notes that funding of €2.3 million has already been approved for a New York Irish arts centre in Manhattan.
Another initiative that emerged from Farmleigh was the idea of a youth forum for the global Irish.
Businessman Dermot Desmond is taking the lead on investigating the feasibility of creating a new centre or university for the performing arts in Ireland.