Tag Archives: Ireland

New U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Claire Cronin Presents Credentials in Dublin

February 11, 2022 By in Ambassadors, Biden, Diplomatic Life, EUR|Europe, Political Appointees, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , , , ,

 

Former Mass. House Majority Leader Claire Cronin Sworn-In as U.S. Ambassador to Ireland

January 21, 2022 By in Ambassadors, Biden, EUR|Europe, Trends, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , , , ,

 

 

Claire Cronin – From Massachusetts Legislature to U.S. Embassy Ireland

June 24, 2021 By in Biden, Nominations, Officially In, Political Appointees, U.S. Missions Tags: , , ,
13 Going on 14 — GFM: https://gofund.me/32671a27

 

On June 23, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate 17 individuals to serve in key roles in his administration. Among those announced was his nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to Ireland. The WH released a brief bio:

Claire Cronin, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Ireland

Claire Cronin currently serves as a Representative, and as Majority Leader, in the legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. During her service as a legislator, Cronin was also Vice Chair, and then Chair, of the Committee on the Judiciary. As Chair of the Committee Cronin was the architect of significant pieces of legislation, including major criminal justice reform and police reform. Cronin has also served since 2003 as a Mediator/Arbitrator for Commonwealth Mediation in Brockton, MA. Prior to her election as Representative, Cronin maintained the Law Office of Claire Cronin in Brockton, Massachusetts.  Earlier she was first a law clerk, and then an Associate Attorney at Wynn & Wynn, P.C. in Raynham, Massachusetts.  Before that she worked in Liaison and Constituent Services in the Office of Massachusetts Governor, Edward King.  Cronin earned her B.A. from Stonehill College and her J.D. degree from Suffolk University.  She is the recipient of multiple honors and awards including the Jewish Community Relations Council Legislative Leadership Award (2020) and the Emerge Massachusetts 2020 Woman of the Year.

If confirmed, Ms. Cronin would succeed Edward F. Crawford who served from July 1, 2019 – January 19, 2021.  Since 1960 when AFSA started tracking these appointments, there had been 20 ambassadors appointed to Dublin. No career diplomat has ever been nominated to this post; senior career diplomats have served at this post as Chargé d’Affaires ad interim typically pending the nomination and confirmation of the nominees.

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@StateDept Announces “National Interest Exceptions” for Certain Travelers from the Schengen Area, United Kingdom, and Ireland

July 17, 2020 By in Consular Work, Immigration, State Department, Trends, Trump, Visas Tags: , , , , , , ,
Via State/CA:
National Interest Exceptions for Certain Travelers from the Schengen Area, United Kingdom, and Ireland
Last Updated: July 16, 2020

Certain business travelers, investors, treaty traders, academics, and students may qualify for National Interest Exceptions under Presidential Proclamations (PPs) 9993 (Schengen Area) and 9996 (United Kingdom and Ireland). Qualified business and student travelers who are applying for or have valid visas or ESTA authorization may travel to the United States even as PPs 9993 and 9996 remain in effect.

Students traveling from the Schengen Area, the UK, and Ireland with valid F-1 and M-1 visas, do not need to seek a national interest exception to travel. Students from those areas who are traveling on a J-1 may contact the nearest embassy or consulate to initiate an exception request.The Department of State also continues to grant National Interest Exceptions for qualified travelers seeking to enter the United States for purposes related to humanitarian travel, public health response, and national security.

Granting national interest exceptions for this travel to the United States from the Schengen area, UK, and Ireland, will assist with the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and bolster key components of our transatlantic relationship.

We appreciate the transparency and concerted efforts of our European partners and allies to combat this pandemic and welcome the EU’s reciprocal action to allow key categories of essential travel to continue.

Also see: Exceptions to Presidential Proclamations (10014 & 10052) Suspending the Entry of Immigrants and Nonimmigrants Presenting a Risk to the United States Labor Market During the Economic Recovery Following the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Outbreak
Proclamation Suspending Entry of Immigrants and Nonimmigrants Who Present Risk to the U.S. Labor Market During the Economic Recovery Following the COVID-19 Outbreak

Trump to Nominate Ohio Businessman Edward Crawford to be Ambassador to Ireland

October 24, 2018 By in EUR|Europe, Nominations, Officially In, Political Appointees, Trump Tags: , , , ,

On October 22, the White House announced the President’s intent to nominate Ohio businessman Edward F. Crawford to be the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland. The WH released the following brief bio:

Edward F. Crawford of Ohio, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Ireland.

Mr. Crawford currently serves as Chairman and CEO of The Edward Crawford Group and Park-Ohio Industries, Inc.  He is the recipient of the Northeast Ohio Business Hall of Fame Entrepreneurial Award, Small Business News Master Innovator Award, Ernst & Young Northeast Ohio Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and the Small Business Administration Man of the Year-Ohio Award.  He served in the Specialist Aviation Company, 107th Armored Cavalry, Army National Guard, and attended John Carroll University.

More details from the Mayo Society of Greater Cleveland here: https://clevelandmayosociety.org/edward-f-crawford/

If confirmed, he would succeed another political appointee Kevin F. O’Malley who served from  2014-2017.  Career diplomat Reece Smyth who was assigned as Deputy Chief of Mission to Dublin in 2016 assumed duties as Chargé d’Affaires ad interim at the U.S. Embassy on January 20th, 2017 after the departure of Ambassador O’Malley.

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USG Invokes Sovereign Immunity in Ex-Local Embassy Guard Case in Ireland

October 24, 2016 By in Court Cases, EUR|Europe, Locally Employed Staff, State Department, U.S. Missions Tags: , ,

Posted: 12:30 am ET
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Via The Irish Times:

A former US embassy security guard has been told he cannot take an employment appeals case over his dismissal as his former employer, the US government, has diplomatic immunity in Ireland.

John Greene had argued that he was unfairly dismissed from the security guard role in September 2013 following an investigation into what his superiors termed a “security breach” at the embassy in Ballsbridge, Dublin.
[…]
In hearings that touched on several Supreme Court rulings, as well as the European Convention on Human Rights, counsel for the US government successfully argued that sovereign immunity applies due to the important nature of Mr Greene’s duties.

Related posts:

 

 

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Burn Bag: If Pfizer becomes Irish Pfizer, will @StateDept kick it out of OSAC?

November 27, 2015 By in Americans Abroad, Diplomatic Security, Security, State Department, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Via Burn Bag:

“If Pfizer becomes Irish to lower its taxes, will the State Department kick Pfizer out of Diplomatic Security’s Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC)?  Let Irish Pfizer contact the nearest Irish Embassy in case there’s a problem.”

Via Gifdumpster/Tumblr

Via Gifdumpster/Tumblr

Note: The Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) was created in 1985 under the Federal Advisory Committee Act to promote security cooperation between American private sector interests worldwide and the U.S. Department of State.  The office is led by an Executive Council of private sector organizations and the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, under the U.S. Department of State.  News report says that Pfizer, an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation headquartered in New York City, with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut, will shift its global headquarters to Ireland, for tax purposes, following a deal to merge with smaller Dublin-based rival Allergan in a transaction that is expected to close next year.  If the move is successful, Pfizer’s global profits will potentially be liable for tax at 12.5% rate in Ireland instead of the 35% in the United States.

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VPOTUS Swears In Ambassador-Designate to Ireland Kevin O’Malley

October 3, 2014 By in Ambassadors, Political Appointees, Social Media, Staffing the FS, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , , , ,

— Domani Spero
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Sorry FSOs: Senate Confirms Lippert, O’Malley, Crocker, Scheinman, Holleyman and Lenhardt

September 18, 2014 By in Confirmations, Congress, Political Appointees, Realities of the FS, State Department, U.S. Missions, USAID Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

— Domani Spero
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On September 18, the Senate confirmed the following State Department nominations. Also confirmed were the nominees for USTR and USAID.

South Korea: Mark William Lippert, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Korea

Ireland: Kevin F. O’Malley, to be Ambassador to Ireland

State/IO: Bathsheba Nell Crocker, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (International Organization Affairs)

State/NPT: Adam M. Scheinman, to be Special Representative of the President for Nuclear Nonproliferation, with the rank of Ambassador

USTR: Robert W. Holleyman II, to be Deputy United States Trade Representative, with the rank of Ambassador

USAID: Alfonso E. Lenhardt, to be Deputy Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development

 

Looking at the names of these lucky ones who made it out of the Senate, one simply feels bad for career diplomats who typically do not have BFFs in high places to lobby for their confirmation. Nominees for Palau and Timor-Leste who both have waited over 400 days may be forced to wait many more days unless the Senate act on those nominations in the next couple of days. Or perhaps after the November election? Perhaps next year?  Nominees for Paraguay, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Cabo Verde, all career diplomats are also stuck in the Senate. Confirmation by crisis works as we have seen clearly this year, though not all the time.  But if a coup or a civil strife breaks out in any of these places in the next 48 hours, the nominees might, just might get moved up the Senate’s “we haven’t forgotten you” list before the clock runs out.

Well, what are you waiting for? Start something happening somewhere, pronto!

 

Oh, wait! Too late to start a coup.  The Senate’s gone, people!

 

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