When Bertie Ahern paid a visit to Albany last week, he was expecting to attend an evening reception in his honor at a leading hotel in the city. But when he was told that Ahern had taken up a long standing invitation to visit New York’s state capital, Gov. George Pataki offered his executive mansion on Eagle Street as a venue for the event.
Pataki also postponed a planned trip to California, where he was to stand beside Arnold Schwarzenegger as part of the Terminator’s campaign to become a fellow governor.
“When the governor heard that the taoiseach was coming he immediately postponed the California trip,” said Jack Irwin, Pataki’s liaison to the state’s Irish-American community.
The hastily rearranged reception went ahead with both Pataki and Lt. Gov. Mary Donohue in attendance.
Speaking to the audience at the well-attended gathering, Pataki expressed his support for full implementation of the Good Friday agreement and said he fully backed the taoiseach’s call for elections in Northern Ireland as soon as possible.
During his address to the gathering, Pataki invited Ahern to visit the Great Hunger memorial in Lower Manhattan and reminded listeners of various aspects of his record on Irish issues, not least the securing of an extension to the lease on Gaelic Park in the Bronx on behalf of the New York GAA.
Ahern’s Albany visit was the opener for a full week in both New York and Connecticut.
In addition to his main appearances at the United Nations, the University of Connecticut and Fairfield University, attended a private lunch in Manhattan hosted by Tom Moran, president and CEO of Mutual of America, met with Mexico’s president, Vicente Fox, toured the New York Stock Exchange. and attended a reception hosted by the Ireland-U.S. Council at the CBS Broadcast Center in Manhattan.
During that event, Ahern spoke of his government’s efforts over its term to ease the tax and regulatory burdens on U.S. companies doing business with or in Ireland.