Shannon delegation promoting airport and wider group activities at key gatherings this week in US  

 

Shannon singled out for high praise by Vice President Biden at select breakfast gathering in his residence this morning

A Shannon Group delegation is this week attending a number of high-level political and business events in the US to promote the wider region for inward investment and tourism.

Representatives are attending events in Washington, Boston, New York and Philadelphia over the course of three days this week to further cement relationships with key business and political interests in the US.

The delegation is led by Chairman Rose Hynes, who will head up the St. Patrick’s Day promotion with Shannon Group Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Murphy and Shannon Group Head of Marketing Marie Slattery.

Among the high level events attended by Chairman Rose Hynes was the St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast at Vice President Joe Biden’s residence this morning, at which the US Vice President singled out Shannon for special attention in his address.  She also yesterday attended the New York Stock Exchange St. Patrick’s Day Bell Ringing event with a host of Irish and US business leaders.  Ms Hynes will also this afternoon  (local time Washington) attend the official St Patrick’s Day Reception with US President Barak Obama in the White House.

Tomorrow she will attend an Ireland Funds event in Washington that will honour Senator Tim Kaine and the Honorable John Boehner, a former Speaker at the United States House of Representatives – both of whom have strong ties with the Irish-American community. She will also attend the Irish Ambassador’s Business Leaders’ Lunch in Washington.

Shannon Group Chief Commercial Officer, Andrew Murphy, meanwhile, will address one of the key Irish American gatherings over the festivities, the Ireland-U.S. Council’s annual St Patrick’s lunch at the Metropolitan Club in New York tomorrow, Wednesday, while Shannon Group Head of Marketing Marie Slattery will also attend a number of networking events in Boston.

Said Rose Hynes,  “St Patrick’s Day is one of the largest annual celebrations across the US and brings together millions of Irish and Irish Americans as well as many other nationalities in a huge range of events from parades to business, political and social gatherings. We are attending some of these key festivities to promote the Airport, Shannon Commercial Properties, Shannon Heritage, IASC and, indeed, the wider region,” said Rose Hynes.

“Vice President Joe Biden’s breakfast was a really good example of just how deeply Shannon Airport resonates at the top level in the US.  We have built a very strong relationship with Vice President Biden and his team over recent years and made a very special effort each time he transited the airport to make him feel welcome. This is what we do in Shannon for all our visitors and it’s appreciated, to a level where he singles us out for praise today in front of some key influencers, including a number of US senators who also came up to us afterwards expressing the same sentiment.  It was a proud moment for all the team in Shannon.”

She added,  “There is no better window of opportunity annually in the US, which is a key trading partner for our region in terms of business and tourism, to meet with key influencers and decision makers.  It’s an opportunity to strengthen already solid and important relationships and, indeed, advance individual issues and agendas if possible on behalf of our region and we will be certainly active in this area.”

The Shannon Airport flag will also fly proudly in front of up to 1million people – and many, many more on TV – when the Shannon Airport Police Fire Service march in the Boston St Patrick’s Day Parade on Sunday.

This will be the second largest ever parade marched in by a Shannon contingent, behind on the New York St. Patrick’s Day Parade.  It is the first time that the Shannon Airport Police Fire Service have marched in a St. Patrick’s Day Parade in the US since the 9/11 atrocity.

Ends