Speaking in New York on Friday, Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny said that he is “very supportive” of any decision that will benefit America’s undocumented Irish.
Kenny expressed his opinion on the “hot issue” of Obama’s upcoming decision on executive action immigration legislation: “Whatever the American system actually does, they must take into account that the 50,000 undocumented Irish wish to find a path to citizenship.
He said he’s raised the issue on Capitol Hill and at the White House on numerous occasions.
The Taoiseach was in New York to ring the opening bell on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. With IDA, Ireland’s development agency, he announced that Ireland has just secured a nearly billion-dollar investment by pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers-Squibb for a new biological plant in Dublin, which will result in close to 1,500 new jobs.
Taoiseach ringing the bell opening the New York Stock Exchange for another day of trading pic.twitter.com/QuvcQW8Jd4
— IrishCentral (@IrishCentral) November 14, 2014
In a press conference at the NYSE Kenny also commented on recent sharp exchanges with the Sinn Fein leader gerry Adams.
Before ringing the NYSE’s famous opening bell, he stated that he found Gerry Adams’ recent comments about Michael Collins holding a gun up to a newspaper editor’s head during the War of Independence “utterly reprehensible.”
“I think it’s utterly reprehensible for the leader of Sinn Fein to any way cast aspersions about the freedom of the press to write their stories. Sometimes I don’t like what the press may say about me - of course every politician would feel the same - but a fundamental tenet of all democracy is freedom of expression – the capacity of the press and those who work for the press to do their job.
“To give any kind of threat, implied or otherwise, I find utterly reprehensible and disgraceful.” He further jabbed that ‘though Sinn Fein talks about abiding by democratic decisions, they don’t really believe in their effect.
Kenny also credited Ireland’s highly educated talent pool and “quality of personnel” as the reason for BristolMyers-Squibb company’s choice of Ireland over all other international cities competing.
Highly educated talent pool cited by Taoiseach as reason for bid win pic.twitter.com/9p4zQ48Df6
— IrishCentral (@IrishCentral) November 14, 2014
“I think it’s the effective response to issues that were raised about how you can do business in the country. I think it also has to do with the quality of the personnel and the talent pool.
“There are very few countries that are as pro-job active as Ireland,” he added. “We really want to get people in there, to invest and to work. So I think the process of following through on the conditions was on one end of it.
“The quality of personnel that they look for is quite extraordinary, and they say that to me all the time. In the context of the future and where they’re going with data on cancers and other areas, these are the kinds of people they need, and these are really high-end quality jobs.”
The Taoiseach credits the IDA for their “enormous amount of effective decision-making” in the process.
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