The rapidly changing relationship between the U.S. and Ireland has been the key focus of the annual U.S.-Ireland Forum since its inception in November of 2007.

At the inaugural event in New York City, Dr. Hugh Brady, president of University College Dublin, publicly unveiled the university’s plan to create the John Hume Global Irish institute (funded in part by well-known Donegal developer Pat Doherty), which Brady says will be an international center of excellence in Dublin driven by the mandate to explore and record the lessons and contributions of Ireland’s diaspora.
 
The second forum was held in the Global Irish Institute Center at UCD, located at the heart of the university’s impressive campus. There, President Mary McAleese wowed the crowd with a heartfelt endorsement of the new movement to embrace the Irish diaspora, which is becoming an ever increasing and important part of Irish identity.
 
UCD’s Irish Studies Institute is the perfect center for the Irish diaspora interested in seeing and experiencing all things Irish. UCD is already home to the world’s leading scholars in Irish history, archaeology, literature, culture, drama and film, political and economic studies.
 
The state-of-the-art building that houses the program will act as a national and international hub for the study of contemporary Ireland.
 
The center provides high quality facilities for up to 150 researchers with office, exhibition and performance space.
 
According the UCD’s Web site, the big questions the institute focuses on and addresses are the following:
 
1.       How did we get here and what does it mean to be Irish in the early 21st century?
2.       How do we govern ourselves in order to manage the challenges and opportunities ahead?
3.       What can we learn from our experience in the three contexts (British-Irish, European and global) in which we find ourselves?
 
For more information on UCD’s Global Irish Institute, email Brian Jackson, Director, at [email protected]