Minister Chambers opening remarks: Meeting of the US Parliamentary Friendship Group with US State and Federal Legislators

Check against delivery

Thank you, Chair.

And thank you for your central role in this initiative bringing our great friends from legislatures in the United States to Ireland’s parliament – Oireachtas Éireann, consisting of the Dáil or Lower House whose chamber this is and of our Seanad or Senate where Senator Daly is Leas-Chathaoirleach or Deputy Chair.

Thank you too to the leadership of our Irish-United States Parliamentary Friendship Group, Deputy Paul McCauliffe and Senator Malcolm Byrne.

It’s a great honour to represent the Irish Government and to join you all today. You are right in the middle of your electoral cycle, while we must have our own elections by next March. As politicians, at times it’s hard to think of much else when elections are near but we all need the distraction and the joy that sporting occasions offer.

Dear friends, we all have clear loyalties to our favourite teams in sport, but sport is a great unifier. Indeed I had the privilege to be Ireland’s Minister for Sport in the past, a role which has connected me closely to the wonderful tradition that now is the Aer Lingus College Football Classic.

This point about sport’s unifying effect is not to be underestimated at a time now where division and partisanship are what more and more people want the focus to be on. We here in this chamber today all know that when we work together, we get results and we serve our people.

And when parliaments and governments work together as we do between Ireland and America, we get results – just look at the 26 years of peace under the Good Friday Agreement which you all support and which successive US administrations have helped to make happen.

I welcome you all as fellow parliamentarians, from your nation’s capital in Washington and from your great state capitals across the USA. Our friendship is of course first and foremost about people-to-people relations, but it goes so much deeper than that.

This year we celebrate the 100 years of diplomatic relations between Ireland-US. Approximately 32 million in the US, almost 1 in 10 people, claim Irish heritage.

The government’s 2024 St Patrick’s Day programme saw 11 government representatives travel to some 20 cities across the United States. The Taoiseach visited Washington DC and had engagements with President Biden, Vice President Harris and the Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. My colleagues Minister Burke travelled to Atlanta and Minister Carroll-MacNeill travelled to Miami.

Some years on from the opening of our Atlanta consulate, the opening of our new Consulate General in Miami in September 2023 has increased our diplomatic footprint across the US to nine missions. Thankfully, we’ve got both sides covered with one Consulate for each team playing this weekend!

As Ireland’s Finance Minister I’m naturally focused on economic and business relations. The US is Ireland’s largest trading partner, with our two-way economic relationship exceeding €1 trillion annually. Some of you may have heard these figures before, but it’s worth drawing attention to them once more to show how our personal friendships also benefit both our economies and our peoples.

The US is Ireland’s largest export market for goods, and largest import partner for goods and services. There are over 970 US companies in Ireland, employing over 210,000 people directly and over 168,000 indirectly, contributing significantly to regional development.

Let me stress that our transatlantic economic relationship flows in both directions. Latest Irish investment figures show that 98,000 people are employed by over 500 Irish-owned companies across all 50 States and representing a broad range of industries. Ireland is the ninth largest source of foreign direct investment in the US (amounting to €288 billion in 2022).

And with this strong and mutually beneficial relationship, as well as deep cultural ties, Ireland is proud to stand as a friendly voice in the EU; we are committed to taking a role in ensuring the best possible EU-US economic relationship.

Thank you, Chair – I look forward to our discussion together during this session.