In advance of St. Patrick’s Day, the Consulate General of Ireland in Atlanta would normally be counting down to the many in-person festivities that take place here in the city, in Savannah and across the Peach State to celebrate Ireland’s national day. Having arrived in Atlanta as Consul General in August 2020, I had hoped St. Patrick’s Day would be an opportunity for me to embrace the wider community in person, celebrating not only the strong links between Ireland and the U.S.A., but also the end of this difficult chapter. However, for a second year in a row, the Irish-American community and friends are once again displaying their innovation and creativity in coming together to celebrate virtually in 2021.
Credit: contributed
Credit: contributed
Over the last year, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected every aspect of our lives, in Ireland and here in Georgia. Our people and our economies have faced unprecedented challenges. As we celebrate the bonds of history and culture that unite us on this St. Patrick’s Day, we recognize the shared characteristics of determination and adaptability that entrepreneurs in both Ireland and Georgia are showing to weather this storm. As we look to the future, with vaccine rollouts underway in both places, it is clear that the breadth, depth, and agility of our respective economies means that we will not only be in a position to recover from this pandemic, but to recover stronger.
In Ireland, a new National Economic Recovery Plan to reboot the economy in the aftermath of the pandemic is already in the advanced stages of development. Throughout the pandemic, the Irish government has focused on shoring up Irish enterprise, ensuring continued funding for startups and emerging businesses, recognizing that for us to build back better, we need to ensure our businesses are well supported.
Key to a stronger recovery for Ireland will also be a continued focus on innovation and building partnerships in the United States – fortifying our role as a transatlantic bridge. Ireland is the ninth-largest source of foreign direct investment into the U.S. Irish companies have achieved impressive growth across the U.S .Southeast, across a variety of sectors. Here in the Peach State, Ireland is one of the top 10 foreign employers, with 6,800 jobs created for Georgians.
Ireland’s success in investing in the South comes from our ability to leverage and transform our traditional expertise in areas such as our strong agricultural heritage, into modern global agri-tech, food-tech and food industries. This mirrors the development of Georgia’s agri-tech, food-tech and food sectors, which has created significant synergies for investments from Irish companies such as Kerry Group.
At the same time, Ireland is also a leader in emerging technology areas, such as fintech, which have seen rapid growth during the pandemic as more of us moved our transactions online or adopted contactless payments. As the fintech sector in Atlanta is thriving, it makes sense that Irish companies come to the city to take advantage of the connectedness of America’s Transaction Alley, as well as the well-educated and adaptable workforce. Sysnet Global Solutions, a leading provider of cybersecurity and compliance solutions to the payments industry, chose to expand into Atlanta in 2017, with Worldnet Payments, FINEOS and Umba also having offices here.
With the support of Enterprise Ireland, the Irish government agency for the international development of Irish firms in world markets, more Irish firms are investigating options for collaboration and growth in Georgia. Enterprise Ireland ranks as the most active venture capital fund globally, according to Pitchbook, and over the past year, Enterprise Ireland saw an average of two new Irish-based businesses established weekly in the United States including here in Georgia, a traditional hub of Irish entrepreneurship.
While we move forward into a more-hopeful 2021, with a brighter outlook for our businesses, there remain many challenges, but let us not forget, so are there significant opportunities. We have achieved much and, in our efforts to prevail over this disease and rebuild our economies to better than before, we will achieve more. Our shared values, expertise and experience is business-positive for both Ireland and Georgia, and we look forward to building back stronger, together.
Ciara O’Floinn is consul general of Ireland in Atlanta.
About the Author
