ambassador's outreach

A Day in the Life of the U.S. Ambassador: The Sligo Champion:
May 23, 2007. 

(This article and photographs are used on the U.S. Embassy website with the permission of The Sligo Champion.)

Last Thursday, the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, Thomas C. Foley, made his first visit to Sligo. HARRY KEANEY was the only journalist to accompany him throughout the entire day.

Welcome to Sligo...U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Thomas Foley is met at Sligo Airport by Bernie Chambers, Airport Marketing Manager after his arrival on an Aer Arann flight on Thursday morning last. It was the start of the ambassador's first visit to Sligo.  Pic.: Carl Brennan

8:55 a.m.: It’s a wet, warm, and blustery May morning, and despite the low-lying cloud, the Aer Arann plane from Dublin carrying Ambassador Thomas C. Foley and his special assistant, Melissa Danforth, touches down at Sligo Airport at Strandhill. Waiting are three uniformed gardai, a few discreet members of the Special Detective Unit, and the Ambassador’s dark-suited driver of a U.S. Embassy BMW. After a few photos of his arrival, it’s off to a courtesy meeting with the Mayor of Sligo, Tom MacSharry, in City Hall.

Hands of friendship...The Mayor of Sligo, Tom McSharry, greets the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, Thomas Foley when he arrived in the Mayor's Parlour in City Hall on Thursday morning last. Also present to meet the Ambassador were Town Clerk John McNabola, left and Clr. Jonathan McGoldrick, right. Pic.: Carl Brennan.

9:20 a.m.: Ambassador Foley is met by the Mayor as well as by Clr. Jonathan McGoldrick and Town Clerk John McNabola. Mayor McSharry outlines how Sligo has developed, its reputation as a centre of excellence in engineering and science, its links to Tallahassee in Florida, the connection with Yeats and visits by U.S. students to Sligo to study the Nobel Prize poet and his work. As the polite conversation continues, Ambassador Foley and Mayor McSharry explore possible common ground in the origins of their surnames. Foley is derived from the Irish word “foghladha” meaning a plunderer or pirate. The surname McSharry comes from “mac an tsearrach”, son of the horse, or foal. Any link appears tenuous but at least it makes another conversation piece, as well as chit-chat about the elections, both in Ireland and the U.S. . . . all the while sipping tea or coffee and nibbling on a few tasty biscuits in the Mayor’s parlour.

10:15 a.m.: The Ambassador has, we are told, a particular interest in sustainable energy systems, hence his trip to Ballisodare hydroelectric station, which was commissioned in 1990. The facility is owned and operated by Rockygrange Ltd, and company owners show around Ambassador Foley, Tim Boland, son of the late Surgeon Boland, of Wine Street, in Sligo, and Niall Stewart, a member of the well-known Stewart business family from Boyle. Also present is Joe Duran of Sustainable Energy Ireland. The largest privately owned hydro-electric scheme in Ireland, it is located parallel to the Ballisodare River, world renowned for salmon fishing, and consists of three hydro-electric turbines set up along the old artificially constructed mill race which was originally part of Ballisodare Mill. After more tea and confectionary in the company office, its window bedecked with the Stars and Stripes for the Ambassador’s visit, it’s back to Sligo at about 11:10 a.m.

11:25 p.m.: Ambassador Foley arrives at the Radisson Hotel, where he’s staying. He checks out his room, and takes, what the Americans call  “downtime.” It’s an opportunity to have some time to himself, catch up on business and make any necessary phone calls, perhaps to his Phoenix Park residence or the U.S. Embassy in Dublin, but any transAtlantic work he can do is limited as it’s earlier than 6:30 in the morning on the east coast of America. After a half hour or so, he is ready for an interview with The Sligo Champion.

About noon: He tells the “Champion” this is his first trip to Sligo. Explaining why he makes such trips, he points out that, as part of his job as ambassador, he wants to cover the whole country and not just “hang out in Dublin.” For seven months in Iraq, he was reporting to Ambassador Paul Bremer while in charge of that country’s economy and its State-owned businesses, with the long term goal having been “to restore a healthy private sector in Iraq” and build “a thriving market-based economy.”

When it’s put to him that many people believe there has been an enormous loss of good will towards the U.S. over Iraq, and that many people in Ireland who love the U.S. are very disappointed over what has happened there, he replies: “Well, we have a lot of people in the States who disagree with the war. You can disagree with a policy without necessarily losing the friendship. So I hope that when the Iraq war is over that the people in Ireland and in the States who haven’t agreed with the policy will resume the friendship and the confidence and goodwill. One of the messages I try to get out is to remind everybody that we really have the same goals in mind from a foreign policy point of view and we agree on a lot more than we disagree on,” he said, going on to cite goals such as reducing global terrorism and stablising unstable regions of the world.

“Where we disagree is on tactics, how do you make that happen. So I try to point out to people that we have the same goals and long-term interests.” When asked what he would say to local protestors in Sligo against the use of Shannon Airport by the U.S. military, he replies: “The role the U.S. is playing in Iraq is UN sanctioned. It isn’t just the U.S. acting on its own. And I think Ireland historically has been a supporter of UN sanctioned activities such as peacekeeping and other activities around the world. We very much appreciate the opportunity to use Shannon Airport but we also believe we’re providing economic activity there that’s providing jobs and support for the community. So I think it’s in both Ireland’s interest as well as in our interest to provide that support and we very much appreciate it.”

1:35 p.m.: Sligo businessman Fergal Broder introduces the Ambassador before he speaks during a luncheon in the Radisson Hotel with members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland, the largest chapter of the chamber outside the U.S. More than 600 U.S. companies have investments totalling more than sixty billion dollars in Ireland.

Promoting an All-Ireland approach to the economy

In a lengthy speech, Ambassador Foley speaks of the importance of investment by small companies and entrepreneurs to cement and stabilise the peace process in Northern Ireland, and of the opportunities for business there. He said: “We are trying in the embassy to promote an All-Ireland approach to the economy and we are trying to encourage people who are investors in the south here, if for any reason the economics of the south become unattractive for additional investment, that you might consider investing in the North.”

Speaking of investment “challenges”, he said: “In the South, we see continually expanding growing costs here and problems with the infrastructure. Each part of Ireland has a slightly different challenge,” he said, adding that access by air transportation was a particular challenge in Sligo. But there were other infrastructural challenges in the area of broadband, the traffic in Dublin and the amount of time it took to get across the country.

Another challenge might be, “where is the economy headed here?” he said. He continued: “Globally, this has been a pretty long upcycle in the economy. I think the Celtic Tiger has been running here for quite a while and it will be hard to sustain these growth rates indefinitely so the question in people’s mind is how long these high growth rates can be maintained. There has been quite an expansion in asset values here in Ireland that’s supported the growth of the economy, and that’s something that can’t run on forever. The bottom one is the uncertainty of the elections and what impact that might have on government policies.” Speaking of the attractiveness of the 12.5% corporate tax rate in the Republic, he said it wouldn’t surprise him if that rate were matched in the North, resulting in corporate tax harmonisation on the entire island.

2:15 p.m.: The luncheon and speeches at the American Chamber event in the Radisson come to an end and Ambassador Foley makes the short trip to Sligo Institute of Technology where he is greeted by Jim Hanley, Head of the School of Engineering. He is brought to the Business Innovation Centre and introduced to Janette Gillen, BIC Manager, who brings him on a short tour of the Centre and introduces him to some of its occupants. At the User Design Workshop, he is given a brief update on the Design Centre by its manager, Toby Scott.

Meets mechatronics students heading for world competitions in Japan

In the School of Engineering, he meets two mechatronics students, Kevin Moyna and Nigel Flynn, who will represent Ireland at world competitions in November in Japan. At the National Instruments Laboratory and another lab he meets staff and receives a demonstration. He also visits Computer Integrated Manufacturing Ltd, which was established as part of an InterReg funded project with North East Institute in Ballymena.  Finally, in the IT boardroom, he addresses staff and students, and invites questions. The group includes social care staff and students who take part in placements in the U.S., performance arts staff and students, staff and students from the Msc. course in energy management, international students, research staff and students, including an American PhD student, and various engineering, business studies and science students.

Questions cover the failure to date of the U.S. to sign the Kyoto Protocol, access to U.S. education; the Ambassador’s interest in the arts, and a question from a Masters in Business Administration student about how the Ambassador’s own MBA from Harvard Business School benefited him. The session ends with Mr. Hanley making a presentation to the Ambassador of a piece of pottery made by a past student, and thanking him for his visit. Afterwards, the Ambassador mingles with the group . . . and it seems he has more time than planned to do so; his chauffer-driven BMW is causing problems and a replacement vehicle is needed. Saving the Americans’ blushes, somewhat, is the fact that the BMW is not an American car, prompting one wag to comment, “they’ll be saying the Europeans are at it again." 

4:30 p.m.: The Ambassador arrives in Drumcliffe where he is given a story-laden, lyrical talk by John Kavanagh on Yeats, his loves, his poetry, his places and times, as well as those of his brother, the painter, Jack, some of whose works Mr. Foley sees later in the Model Arts and Niland Centre. When the Ambassador enquires about the inscription on Yeats’s gravestone, Mr. Kavanagh explains something he says not even many Yeats scholars know; there was originally four lines in the verse, as follows:

Draw rain, draw breath

Cast a Cold Eye
On Life on Death
Horseman, pass by

After 5 p.m.: The Ambassador arrives at the Model Arts and Niland Gallery, where he is given a guided tour by Aoife Flynn of an exhibition of about 50 Jack B. Yeats paintings. The exhibition marks the 50th anniversary of the painter’s death. Mr. Foley enquires about the “Niland” in the centre’s name, and seems particularly taken as Aoife explains it comes from the late Sligo librarian, Nora Niland, who did so much work in acquiring various paintings. Aoife also shows the Ambassador around another exhibition of landscape paintings of the west of Ireland. Before he leaves, he hears of  plans and hopes for future shows at the centre as well as for what will be Sligo’s new cultural quarter.

5:35 p.m.: He returns to the Radisson Hotel. It’s now about lunchtime in the U.S., so Ambassador Foley can make his transAtlantic phone calls and catch up on any important news or developments pertaining to his work.

During dinner, talk of bringing people together through the arts

7:30 p.m.: At Coach Lane Restaurant, Ambassador Foley hosts a dinner for about a dozen people comprising local political, arts, and media representatives. In a short speech, he talks of the value of bringing people together through the arts and of the importance of supporting the arts, and encouraging the links they create between Ireland and the U.S. In reply, former EU Commissioner Ray MacSharry thanks the ambassador for “his very laudable work in bringing people together.” Mr. MacSharry also pointed out that thousands of people are employed by Abbott, a U.S. corporation, in a number of surrounding counties and adds that if “anything happened them we would be in serious difficulty.”  Mr. MacSharry concluded by urging the Ambassador to “tell the people of America about how great this place is.” Words of thanks also come from Stella Mews, of the Yeats Society, who  concludes by making a presentation to the Ambassador of a framed cartoon drawing by award-winning artist and illustrator Annie West. (An exhibition of her humorous Yeats cartoons, together with works by artist Jonathan Cassidy, will be on show from July 28^th to August 21^st in the Cat and the Moon Gallery, Castle Street, Sligo).   

9:30: The politicians at the dinner, MacSharry, Jimmy Devins and John Perry, excuse themselves as they are eager to see the debate between Bertie Ahern and Enda Kenny, although Perry continues to canvass everyone downstairs in the bar. Eventually, the Ambassador and his assistant are off too, back to the Radisson Hotel to do some work, and to get a good night’s rest before leaving on Friday morning . . . to climb Croagh Patrick, thus adding a whole new meaning to the oft-used term, “high level diplomatic efforts.” _______________________________________________________

Who he is

AMBASSADOR Thomas C. Foley became United States Ambassador to Ireland on October 18, 2006.  

Before entering government service, Mr. Foley, who is in his early 50s,  was in business having worked in New York at McKinsey & Company and then Citicorp Venture Capital before founding NTC Group, a private equity investing business, in 1985.  He has over twenty-five years of senior management and private equity investing experience.  

He is a close associate of the Bush family and has been a major Republican fundraiser. 

From August, 2003 through March, 2004, Mr. Foley served in Iraq as the Director of Private Sector Development for the Coalition Provisional Authority. His responsibilities included overseeing most of Iraq’s 192 state-owned enterprises, stimulating private sector growth, developing foreign trade and investment, and overseeing three state Ministries.  He received the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Award in June, 2004 for his service in Iraq.

Mr. Foley is involved in numerous charitable activities focusing on the arts and educational opportunities for children.  He recently served as a Trustee of The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington and two Connecticut State Commissions involving education and children’s rights.  

He holds a B.A. in Economics from Harvard and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.