The Ireland Funds Chicago Regional Advisory Committee was honored to welcome Minister of State for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne, TD on Monday June 6th 2022.
Minister Byrne joined members of the Chicago Regional Advisory Committee for breakfast and discussions at the offices of GCM Grosvenor in Chicago, kindly hosted by committee member Tom Meagher.
Minister Byrne, originally from Drogheda, County Louth, represents the Meath East constituency in Ireland and was appointed Minister of State for European Affairs by Taosieach Micheál Martin in July 2020.
The Minister spoke to the room firstly about the relationship between the US and Ireland and thanked The Ireland Funds for its long support to the people of Ireland, in good and bad times.
The Minister proceeded to give the guests an update on a number of key areas, starting with the Ukraine crisis. Ireland has now received over 30,000 refugees, mostly family and children with 7,000 children now settled into schools in Ireland. The Minister spoke about Ireland’s place in Europe and how strongly the Irish people feel about belonging to Europe. Ireland now gives more to Europe than it takes and will celebrate 50 years of EU Membership next year. The Minister finished off the morning with discussions on Brexit and Northern Ireland. There is a lot of work going on to ensure that the Good Friday Agreement is upheld and to get the Executive in Northern Ireland running again.
It was a most informative morning, and it was great to have an Irish Government Minister back in Chicago meeting with the Chicago Regional Advisory Committee.
