The Mayor of Clare (left) today met with the Mayor of Chicago in a bid to strengthen business and tourism links between County Clare and the US Midwest.Councillor Madeline Taylor-Quinn’s meeting with Mayor Richard M. Daley in Chicago’s City Hall formed part of a weeklong promotional trip by Clare County Council to the US States of Illinois and Wisconsin. The delegation last week attended the Milwaukee Irish Fest, the world's largest Irish culture festival, where it conducted a promotional campaign aimed at highlighting County Clare as a desirable tourist destination.
Mayor Taylor-Quinn described today’s meeting with her City of Chicago counterpart, a third-generation Irish American, as ‘productive’ and added that she was confident it would reap benefits for the local economy. ‘We discussed the many cultural and business links that exist between County Clare and the greater Midwest Region in the US. We both agreed that the retention and development of existing air services between Chicago O'Hare International Airport and Shannon Airport was a priority for the economies of the regions served by the two airports’, stated Mayor Taylor-Quinn.
She explained, ‘We agreed that any individual or company that conducts business in the US Midwest and West of Ireland is reliant upon the retention of direct flights from Shannon to Chicago. I explained how it was imperative that the Irish Government, management at Shannon Airport, tourism agencies and local politicians continue to seek assurances from airlines operating out of Shannon, especially Aer Lingus, that existing services will be maintained into the future’. ‘US business interests have for many years invested in the West of Ireland due to the provision of direct flights to the Region. Likewise, US tourists have long travelled to the Region because of available flights. If such services are curtailed then I fear that County Clare’s economy will suffer immensely with the potential loss of millions of euro and hundreds of jobs’, continued Mayor Taylor-Quinn
She stated that she briefed Mayor Daley on the recently produced County Clare Enterprise Strategy entitled ‘Collaborating To Compete’, which features six high-level strategic enterprise goals that merge with national policy objectives while seeking to maximise the competitive advantage of enterprise in Clare. ‘Mayor Daley was interested to hear how Clare County Council was actively seeking to attract multinational companies to the county by implementing specific goals aimed at increasing R&D activity in the county, increasing the skills and adaptability of the workforce, increasing the competitiveness and innovation in Clare enterprises, and growing high potential enterprises to scale to enable them to compete globally’, commented Mayor Taylor-Quinn.
Both Mayors also discussed the latest tourism figures from the Central Statistics Office showing that the number of American tourists to Ireland has fallen dramatically — leading to the first drop in tourist revenue in four years. According to Mayor Taylor-Quinn, ‘We both agreed that the rising price of oil, a downturn in the economies of both countries and the strong Euro were largely to blamed for the drop in the number of number of US tourists travelling to Ireland. I explained to Mayor Daley that the tourism product on offer in County Clare represented excellent value for money and asked that he do everything he could to promote the existence and continuation of an air service between the US Midwest and County Clare’.
Mayor Taylor-Quinn said that today’s meeting concluded with Mayor Daley being invited to visit County Clare in the near future. Clare County Manager, Mr. Alec Fleming said he was delighted that the Mayor of Chicago had accepted Clare County Council’s invitation to meet with Mayor Taylor-Quinn, as part of the Clare delegation’s promotional efforts in the USA. He said, ‘The meeting was a wonderful opportunity for Clare County Council to showcase the economic and tourism potential of County Clare and the wider region. It follows a successful tourism promotional campaign undertaken by the delegation at the Milwaukee Irish Fest.’
‘Clare County Council’s presence at the Milwaukee Irish Fest in 2007 led to increased transatlantic traffic through Shannon Airport while the positive knock on effects for Clare tourism have also been felt. It is anticipated that work carried out by the Clare delegation at this year’s festival will help build on the estimated 3000 US tourists who holidayed in the West of Ireland as a result of our promotional campaign in Wisconsin last year’, concluded Mr. Fleming.
Over 140,000 people attend the annual Milwaukee Irish Fest, established in 1981 by members of Milwaukee’s Irish community. Covering 74 acres of Lake Michigan's shoreline the event showcases Irish music, history, dance, sports and culture. The event is also used by tourist agencies such as Fáilte Ireland, Shannon Development, the Clare Tourism Forum, Clare Tourist Council and CIE Tours as an opportunity to market Ireland as a desirable tourist destination.
