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Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

The Celtic Comeback begins as President Clinton leads an Irish charge --Powerful Fortune 500 leaders show way forward for Irish economy

Posted on Friday, February 10, 2012 at 07:50 AM

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Bill Clinton pictured alongside Irish leaders yesterday in New York

Mark February 9th as the day the Celtic Comeback began.

That was the day in New York that former President Bill Clinton gathered the rich and powerful in American business and delivered them on a silver platter for the Irish government leaders including Prime Minister Enda Kenny and Foreign Minster Eamon Gilmore as well as Jobs Minister Richard Bruton.

Clinton was delivering on a commitment made in September when he attended the Irish Diaspora Economic Forum in Dublin and promised to pull out the stops in an effort to help out Ireland's foundering economy.

On Thursday he delivered, filling a meeting hall at New York University with 25 top executives eager to hear about investing in Ireland .

The president was eager to share his insights that Ireland, like the US, has one of the youngest demographics in the western world and that the educational level is among the highest. People are investing not just for the present but for the future he stated. Many companies were now looking overseas again and Ireland had to get on their radar.

Robert Rubin, his former Treasury Secretary, was there and made a valuable contribution.

Rubin stated he had not really studied the Irish situation until a few weeks ago but he believed the country was dealing with its problems in an admirable manner.

Also there were top executives from Merck, Dow Chemical, Bank of America.

The morning meeting on the 8th floor at NYU university bore the hallmarks of a well-rehearsed sales job.

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First up were CEO's from companies with operations in Ireland telling those thinking of investing there how well they had done.

Leading that charge was Donald Keough, the legendary former president of Coca Cola, who pioneered the multinational invasion in Ireland back in the 1970s.

When Keough talks people listen. These days he is Chairman of Allen and Company, the powerful investment bank, and no one does more to promote his beloved Ireland.

Wilbur Ross the billionaire investor and turnaround specialist seemingly believes in the Irish mission also, as he was vocal in his support of what the Irish government has done to combat the tide of negative news.

After the meeting the three Irish government leaders repaired down one flight of stairs to address 100 leaders in the Irish American community on the Irish economy.

There were joined by Clinton who offered a reprise of the remarks he had made upstairs.

Loretta Brennan Glucksman of the American Ireland Fund praised the IDA, the Irish industrial development agency for the amazing work they continued to do attracting jobs and also the government's emphasis on the importance of philanthropy.

Not coincidentally, IDA news of 485 new jobs in various parts of Ireland was made public on Thursday.

I asked the Irish leader and his colleagues what was the best advice they had heard and the most common criticism at their meeting.

Enda Kenny stated that telling the truth about the financial morass, not gilding the lily and telling it straight was the best advice and one he was adhering to.

Foreign Minister Gilmore stated that the most common criticism was not focusing enough on the skill of the workers themselves who got very high marks from the multinational leaders for their commitment to the job.

Kieran McLaughlin, CEO of the Ireland Funds, summed it up when he stated that what he was hearing was the beginning of what he called the "Celtic Comeback."

And not before time we all thought. Enough of the doom and gloom and more of the American can-do.

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Niall O'Dowd | Feb 10, 2012, 05:45 PM EST

Young Irelander we consistently publish very positive articles about Ireland, tourism related, Americans love for Ireland etc.We didn't make church scandals or corrupt politicians happen -- just because we report on their activities don't confuse the messenger with the message.I wish you the best in your career but maybe look at the mote in your own eye first

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ciaradexy | Feb 10, 2012, 05:38 PM EST

Irish politicians should be at home investing in indigenous Irish businesses and industries instead of relying on American multinationals who will pack up and move out once they can set up in Eastern European countries for less money.

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seanomelb | Feb 10, 2012, 04:23 PM EST

It's disappointing to read the naysayers below any help from anybody is good for the recovery and those helping should be commended.

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LoyalCitizen | Feb 10, 2012, 03:28 PM EST

With friends like Bill Clinton we have to ask do we need enemies?..............If Billy boy likes the Irish tell him to get the pretentious American Corporations in Ireland to give back the funding they received from traitorous Irish Politicians.

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RedBranch | Feb 10, 2012, 01:21 PM EST

Young Irelander, You don't think this is actually a 'serious' forum. Half of the regular posters appear to be better qualified to comment than the authors of the pieces and don't get me started on grammatical errors. This is a website catering to a particular audience with a particular background/perception. Many of the stories are fluff or sensationalist for the target audience. So take it at face value, don't expect too much and allow your baser Irish instincts to run wild....

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YoungIrelander | Feb 10, 2012, 12:41 PM EST

hi, I would like to echo the postings below of an Irish Central member called kinvara7. In fact I feel so strongly in agreement with his sentiments that I have created an account just to make this posting. As a young Irish entrepreneur I am frustrated and even embarrassed by the self-defeating and fatalist approach adopted by some of the Irish media during the past 3-4 years. I would put Irish Central at the top if the list. I am an Irish entrepreneur who has spent the bulk of this time working hard to bring my company to fruition. My peers and I are in unanimous agreement that we are not only battling the difficult trading environment but also what we see as a destructive sector within the media, which is self-serving to an excessive degree and which is NOT on the side of Ireland and her recovery. The owners of Irish Central have a lot to answer for in portraying us, Ireland's people, as being under-educated (through the consistently poor writing skills in its journalism) and under-achieving (through its policy of promoting negativity in its articles). They must have wondered why young Irish people have not joined their website. So long as their ethos of negativity prevails we never will. This is a pity because as young Irish people we see the Irish family as constituting two equal parts - those of us who live abroad (regardless of birthplace) and those of us who reside on the island, with neither part being more Irish than the other. If only Irish Central owners felt as strongly as we do about the importance of the message, of it reflecting the positivity and industriousness of the Irish people, and if only they did not instead place profit before responsibility. No doubt Irish Central, like everything else, began as a dream by the owners. In the words of WB Yeats "In dreams begins responsibility". Please begin.

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gobdawpaddy | Feb 10, 2012, 10:51 AM EST

Niall, I hope you are right. I have been in Ireland for the past 2 weeks and it is sad to see boarded up stores in every city and town that I visited. There are empty warehouses and factory floors in industrial estates. The stories of unemployed people are harrowing. Things are bad in the states, but gradually improving, a great jobs number last week and today's increases in the trade deficit indicate that the US is gradually creeping back. I hope Ireland can do the same and Bill Clinton's efforts on behalf of this country are welcomed. While I know there are many people in the states who don't agree, but here in Ireland the man is hailed as a hero. His endeavors to bring peace to Northern Ireland are very much appreciated as will be this current effort to give Ireland an economic boost. Thank you Bill.

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kinvara7 | Feb 10, 2012, 10:36 AM EST

I haven’t the time to sit down and list out all the good stories which Irish Central missed over the last few months; perhaps I will come back to it another time. I’m very happy about the above event; Bill Clinton is a friend to Ireland and he is much admired here. I hope that real benefits flow from this event and I presume that they will. However, IC needs to recognize the ‘can do’ spirit present in Ireland and it should write about it. Negativity breeds negativity and if you are not giving attention to success stories then that only compounds the problem.

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kinvara7 | Feb 10, 2012, 10:22 AM EST

What about Arklow Marine Services? It is a fifth-generation family business established in 1864. Their company has developed an innovative 20-metre aluminium catamaran, built specifically for servicing offshore wind farms and was launched just last month and secured a contract with UK-based Gardline Shipping. Here was a story about an Irish family business, creating jobs and developing a sophisticated product for export. Don’t you think stories like that deserve to be told? Yet Irish Central ignored it and followed its usual format.

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Murph46 | Feb 10, 2012, 10:13 AM EST

Wow ! THE guy who STARTED the American housing crisis ,blessing Ireland with his ideas!Duck!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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kinvara7 | Feb 10, 2012, 10:12 AM EST

Niall: Your website has been perpetuating ‘the doom and gloom’, it rarely takes a moment for breath. When you want to offer people something else it is something like: ‘Top ten Irish Curses’ or something. You have done a wonderful job of ignoring the good news stories from Ireland. Examples of such stories would be the two Cork companies that won awards recently from the European Space Agency. The first Cork company is SensL and the contract involves the deployment of SensL’s silicon photomultipliers for range-finding LIDAR cameras to determine the location of suitable terrain for lunar landings. (Apparently this was not worthy for Irish Central). The other company Radisens Diagnostics. The European Space Agency has contracted Radisens Diagnostics to add a thyroid test to their point-of-care device which is currently in development at their facility in Cork. ESA wants to use the device on board the International Space Station.

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torbreezy | Feb 10, 2012, 09:34 AM EST

Mullac Abu ! ! !

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