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Front row: L to R- Debi Davis, Sister Cities President, Limerick, Ireland Mayor Ger Fahy, SC Mayor Patricia Mahan and Jennifer Sparacino, Santa Clara City Manager.
Back row: L to R- Rushton Hurley, I.E.C Commissioner, Andrew Ratermann, Santa Clara Unified School District Board of Education, John Hartnett, Irish Technology Leadership Group Chairman and Founder, and Tom Mackey, City Manager of Limerick Ireland.
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Limerick Mayor Ger Fahy
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West Meets West: Irish Eyes Smiling on Santa Clara
By Robert Haugh
While some are blushing with green recovering from St. Patrick’s Day and others are eating leftover corned beef, cabbage and potatoes, others have been busy working on bringing a little bit of the Emerald Isle to Santa Clara --- permanently as a third Sister City.
Several Limerick, Ireland dignitaries visited Santa Clara recently --- meeting with Santa Clara’s City Council and City Staff, as well as visiting Santa Clara University and attending Irish Week festivities in both San Jose and San Francisco.
John Hartnett, Palm Products Senior Vice President, has been working together with several Santa Clara and Limerick leaders, with goals of bringing together local Irish tech connoisseurs and fostering closer connections between Ireland and the Silicon Valley.
Hartnett conveyed at the March 4 City Council meeting that Limerick and surrounding cities of the County of Cork are considered the “Silicon Isle” and the “Celtic Tiger” for it’s hi-tech activities and resources.
Limerick shares many similarities with Santa Clara, including population (both around 100,000), strong Universities (Limerick University and Santa Clara University), similar City government and municipality structure and both are leading hi-tech areas.
Hartnett says there are “four major pillars of connection” between Limerick and Santa Clara: education, arts & culture, biz/tech and sports.
“There’s a great opportunity for our Cities to propel our relationship forward,” says Hartnett. “We believe the expansion of this relationship can benefit both Cities,” added Hartnett.
For about five months, International Exchange Commission members have been discussing the opportunity of potentially establishing an official Sister City relationship with Limerick.
The Limerick delegation visited Santa Clara during their annual trip --- with efforts of learning more about the Santa Clara community and expanding current connections with educational exchange projects being developed at Wilcox High School Santa Clara University.
“This World of differences shows us how flat our World has become,” said Council member Dominic Caserta --- who expressed that he feels the City should move forward in establishing Limerick as an official Sister City.
Prior to the Council meeting, a welcome reception for the Irish visitors was held on Monday, march 3 at the home of Theresa O’Neill, Santa Clara Sister Cities Board member and Santa Clara Planning Commission member.
Joining Hartnett in Santa Clara was Limerick City Mayor Ger Fahy, Limerick City Manager Tom Mackey, Limerick Director of Services Kieran Lehane and University of Limerick President Don Barry.
“Those Irish eyes are smiling and they’re smiling at us,” said Council member Kevin Moore at the March 4 Council meeting.
Other Irish Technological Leadership Group (ITLG) members are Rory McInerney, Vice President, Intel Corporation, Barry O’Sullivan, Senior Vice President, Cisco and many more CEOs and high-ranking officials from Santa Clara-based corporations
For more information on the Irish Technology Leadership Group, visit www.itlg.org.
