For the first time in five years, an official delegation from Monaghan County Council visited New York for this year’s St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. The delegation was led by An Cathaoirleach David Maxwell accompanied by Chief Executive Robert Burns who met with members of the Monaghan Diaspora in New York. They held a series of meetings with key strategic partners and participated in events to showcase all that County Monaghan has to offer economically and culturally as well as promoting the county as a place to visit, invest and do business. The official delegation from Monaghan County Council which also included Liam Bradley, Curator of the Monaghan County Museum, was joined on the visit by members of Monaghan GAA, including chairperson, Declan Flanagan and vice chairperson Brendan Casey, along with representatives of Enterprising Monaghan, Finbarr Daly CEO and board member, Paul Shortt. A number of prominent businesspeople from County Monaghan were also present on the trip, including Martin McVicar, Managing Director of Combilift; Ciaran Marron, CEO of Activ8 Energies; Sammy Leslie, Owner of Castle Leslie and Trustee of the Leslie Foundation; Michael Mullan, Director of Mullan Lighting; Simon Murray, Director of CameraMatics, and; Barry Murray, Director of Universal Graphics. The centrepiece event of the visit was the inaugural meeting of the Monaghan – New York Business Network which was held on 15th March, in which business and civic leaders from New York, the wider USA, Monaghan and other parts of Ireland came together to explore opportunities for business investment, job creation and tourism in Monaghan. It was also an opportunity for Monaghan-based businesses to look at the potential of investing in or exporting to the USA. Many Monaghan businesses already have a presence in the USA and the event presented an opportunity for them to strengthen their links with clients and customers and potentially expand in the US market. The first of what it is hoped will be many meetings of the Monaghan
PHOTOS: Monaghan delegation visits New York for St Patrick’s Day
