Massachusetts’ relationship with Ireland is a “powerful and necessary” useful resource for advancing the wellbeing of and alternative for residents within the state, Gov. Maura Healey advised the Irish Senate in Dublin on Tuesday.
Healey, on her first worldwide commerce journey since taking workplace as the primary overtly lesbian governor within the United States, spoke closely of her Irish roots throughout a speech earlier than native lawmakers. Her great-grandmother left Ballinasloe, Ireland in 1912 for New York earlier than finally touring north to Boston, she mentioned.
Beyond her private connection to the nation, Healey mentioned the financial partnership between Massachusetts and Ireland are mirrored within the lots of of firms using hundreds of individuals on each side of the Atlantic ocean and the billion of {dollars} and euros in commerce and investments which can be exchanged.
Healey additionally pitched Massachusetts — and Ireland — as having a “competitive advantage” due to its work on reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights.
“In our business development meetings, I can tell prospective workers and students, employers or investors who are out there looking to make a life in Massachusetts or in Ireland, that whoever you are and whomever you love, you will be welcomed, you will be embraced, you will be respected,” she mentioned. “That’s a competitive advantage in today’s world.”
The Healey administration billed this week’s journey to Ireland as a option to honor the 30-year anniversary of when the nation decriminalized homosexuality. It additionally strains up with former President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 state go to to Ireland, which Healey beforehand mentioned “launched a new era of economic and cultural partnership.”
Healey left Massachusetts on Sunday, leaving Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll as appearing governor. Healey participated in a enterprise roundtable on Monday and was scheduled to attend a “Women in Tech Coffee Hour” and tech enterprise roundtable earlier Tuesday.
The governor plans to move to a clear tech, power and sustainability roundtable and a “Homecoming: JFK in Ireland” Panel on Wednesday earlier than flying again to Massachusetts on Friday.
Four workers members, Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper, Economic Development Secretary Yvonne Hao, Undersecretary of Economic Strategies Sarah Stanton, and MassTech Executive Director Carolyn Kirk additionally traveled to Ireland.
A Healey spokesperson mentioned the price of the journey shall be coated by the administration, the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership, and Massachusetts Technology Collaborative.
Healey invoked Kennedy throughout her remarks, quoting him as saying 60 years in the past, “the supreme reality of our time is our indivisibility as children of God and the common vulnerability of this planet.”
“We have a different understanding of our planet’s vulnerability today, but this truth remains unchanged,” Healey mentioned. “If we embrace our shared destiny, then we will not only meet the climate challenge, we will also demonstrate the unity the world needs to meet all the challenges that confront us.”
Healey additionally pointed to Massachusetts’ work on clear power, the place the state is hoping to construct the primary main offshore wind farm within the United States at the same time as rising prices place some uncertainty on the mission.
“In Massachusetts, we’re leaning into offshore wind, embracing that as a technology where we know Ireland is also a leader in embracing what we need to do to address our climate situation,” she mentioned.
And the governor introduced up the state’s work on reproductive healthcare.
“We’re eradicating racial injustice from our legal system, our economy our schools, our health care systems, in every realm of life, and we’re defending the rights of every member of the gay, lesbian, and trans community to live their lives free from discrimination, abuse, violence or other barriers,” she mentioned.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”