CEO Update: Ibec St. Patrick’s Day engagements in New York, Washington DC and Brussels

Dear member,

Ibec has had a busy two weeks with our annual St Patrick’s Day engagements. Last week I was delighted to join an Ibec delegation led by our President Imelda Hurley to Washington DC and New York.

In New York, Ibec President Imelda Hurley and Ibec COO Liam O’Donoghue attended the Ireland Inc event at the New York Stock Exchange before ringing the NYSE opening trading bell. In partnership with Bank of Ireland at its NYC Hub, Ibec Global hosted an exclusive round table discussion with 25 leaders from business, investment, and finance on the opportunities and challenges of transatlantic business and investment. I facilitated a roundtable discussion on deepening the already substantial ties between the U.S. and Irish investment and business communities.

In Washington, Ibec met with a high-level delegation from the International Monetary Fund, including the new Mission Chief for Ireland, Yan Sen. During this meeting the group spoke about the all-island economy and provided some detail and messaging from our campaign Ireland: Towards a Model of Sustainable Substance.

We launched our for Peace + Prosperity campaign to an international audience at an event in the residence of Ambassador of Ireland to the United States of America, Geraldine Byrne Nason, in conjunction with the US Chamber of Commerce. The campaign marks the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement (B/GFA) and highlights the positive social and economic benefits of the Agreement. Ibec also attended a private reception with An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar hosted in DC by the US Chamber of Commerce.

At a highly sought after event, Ibec hosted the for Peace + Prosperity Dinner, a further opportunity to introduce and reinforce the message of the campaign to over 120 key stakeholders.

Our delegation engaged in bi-lateral meetings with the Office of the US Trade Representative, the US Department of Commerce, and ended the week with a meeting with Joe Kennedy, the United States Special Economic Envoy for Northern Ireland. Mr Kennedy stated that the meeting should mark the start of a dialogue and ongoing relationship between his office and Ibec. Mr Kennedy will join President Biden when he visits Ireland in April. In NYC, we hosted with Bank of Ireland an investor presentation on the prospects for the All Island economy.

In Brussels this week, Ibec continued our high-level engagement with a St Patrick’s Day event hosted at the European Parliament. The gathering was addressed by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness and Minister for European Affairs Peter Burke. The event was attended by 250 people including MEPs, Ireland’s Ambassador to the EU Tom Hanney and officials from the Irish Permanent Representation, Ibec sectors, members and stakeholders.

These engagements provided an important platform to represent the priorities of Irish business and reconnect with key US and EU stakeholders.

As always if you have any question or queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards,

Danny McCoy

CEO

Ibec