The Irish Cultural Center hosted a visit to the Valley by Irish Ambassador Daniel Mulhall on Saturday and Sunday, May 21st and 22nd. Ambassador Mulhall met with Arizona's Irish Sister Cities and the held a public reception to greet the community at large. Additionally, the Ambassador, a proponent of Irish literature and scholar of James Joyce, presented a free lecture on his recently published book, Ulysses: A Reader's Odyssey.
Ambassador Mulhall stressed the importance of Sister Cities' ambassadorship activities in fostering trade, arts, education and jobs exchanges between Ireland and the United States.
Scottsdale Sister Cities Board members attending the various events included Sandra Zally, President; Kathy George, Membership Chair, and JoAnn Garner, Killarney Chair. Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland is Scottsdale's newest sister city and Arizona's newest Irish sister city. Arizona has a total of six (6) Irish sister cities: Tullamore-Chandler, Ennis-Phoenix, Carlow-Tempe, Roscommon-Tucson, Newtownabbey-Gilbert, and the latest, Killarney-Scottsdale. The United States has the second largest number of Irish descendents in the world after Great Britain. Per capita, Maricopa County has the fourth largest U. S. county diaspor.
AZ Irish Sister Cities representatives, are pictured here with Ambassador Daniel Mulhall, shown center with the map of AZ Irish Sister Cities. Kathy George is to the immediate right of the Ambassador and JoAnn Garner, is second from the end on the right next to the Ambassador's attache, Barry Guihen, last on the right.
Irish Cultural Center Board President, Leslie Thompson of Intel Corporation, escorted the Ambassador and his team during their visit. She is shown far left.
~by JoAnn Garner, Killarney Committee Chair
