Irish diaspora ‘underutilised’ as economic resource - O’Dowd

The Irish diaspora is still "hugely underutilised" as an economic resource for Ireland, New York-based Irish journalist and publisher Niall O'Dowd has said.

The founder of IrishCentral.com and several Irish-American publications including the Irish Voice newspaper is to receive a Presidential Distinguished Service Award at Áras an Uachtaráin tomorrow for his work with the Irish diaspora in the US.

He said the appointment of Jimmy Deenihan as Ireland's first Minister of State for the Diaspora was "a great starting point", but a lot more could be done by the Government to "engage its diaspora".

“We are really only dipping our toes into what Irish-America represents economically,” he said. “As someone who has worked with the Irish diaspora for 30 years, I feel very strongly that so much more can be done that would have a positive impact on Ireland.”

The Government should introduce an outreach scheme targeted at Irish-connected business leaders in the US, whereby they would be invited on a state by state basis to Ireland on a familiarisation trip, Mr O’Dowd suggested.

“You would give them something first before they are expected to give anything back. This outreach approach could be extremely successful, but it needs Government resources.”

He also suggested a programme to encourage children of Irish descent to visit or study in Ireland to experience Irish history and culture. A similar programme in Israel, Taglit Birthright, has seen more than 400,000 young Jewish people visit Israel since it began 15 years ago.

“It creates generation after generation of people who are very loyal to Israel…. Ties that people make when they are young are incredibly important.”

Irish universities should also be doing more to reach out to people outside Ireland who have “a thirst for Irish culture, heritage and language” by offering more distance learning courses online, he added.

The Notre Dame football game, which saw 30,000 American tourists travel to Dublin last year, and the year-long Gathering event, were examples of how diaspora tourism could be utilised to Ireland’s benefit, he said.

“Americans want to go back to Ireland at some time, but they rarely get to that point where they are given a specific occasion to go and the Gathering was perfect for that.”

Other honourees to receive awards for their work with the Irish abroad from President Michael D Higgins tomorrow include actress Fionnula Flanagan, writer Thomas Keneally and leading physician and international humanitarian Dr Kevin Cahill.