TAOISEACH Micheál Martin praised a Donegal politician for raising over €60 million for services in Ireland.
He said the late Paddy Harte, who was a Dail TD and Minister of State, helped 750 schools and peace-building and community development agencies through the Irish-American Partnership organisation that he founded.
The Partnership has invested US$68m (€61.2m) across the North and South, stated a group spokesperson following the Taoiseach’s address at a recent 40th anniversary gala dinner in the RDS.
The late Paddy Harte.
The Taoiseach said: “In 1986, as the Partnership set out in its work, we were in the midst of some of the darkest years of violence on this island.
“The conflict was at its most intractable and an end to the cycle of violence seemed distant. Innovative approaches to peacebuilding were required.
“One such innovator was my late colleague deputy Paddy Harte. Paddy was instrumental in the creation of the Partnership and achieving seed funding from the then Irish Government.
“He recognised the goodwill, energy and resources possessed by the Irish community in the United States and how this could be channelled positively for the economic and social development of the island.
“Paddy Harte’s vision for the Irish American Partnership was shared by like-minded figures from the business world in the US.
“These include proud Irish Americans like Joseph Leary Jr and, of course, Chuck Feeney, whose leadership and generosity has had such an impact across the island.
“Paddy also passed his incredible commitment to the next generation, and his son, also Paddy, has carried forward his father’s legacy and has had an extensive record of working on conflict prevention and peacebuilding initiatives.”
Former US Secretary of Labour Marty Walshe; former US Ambassador to Ireland Claire Cronin; An Taoiseach Micheál Martin; former chair IFI Paddy Harte Jnr; and Irish American Partnership CEO Mary Surgue.
Fine Gael politician Paddy, who was originally from Lifford, died at the age of 86 in January 2018, following illness.
He was first elected to the Dáil in 1961, was Minister of State at the Department of Posts and Telegraphs in the 1980s, and retained his seat until 1997.
Donal and May Boyle, Paddy and Libby Harte, Clodagh Boyle and Bruce Robinson (board member representing Norther Ireland).
The Partnership’s STEMtacular Access Fund helps Donegal schools cover the cost of travelling to the STEMtacular science festival in February 2027.
Other schools that have benefitted include St Patrick’s NS in Murlog, Scoil Eoghain in Moville, and Scoil Cholmcille in Letterkenny.
The group’s spokesperson said of the Partnership: “It is an amazing Donegal Diaspora success and those links continue to this day.
“Clodagh Boyle, the vice-president, is from Dungloe, and former US Ambassador Claire Cronin is a board member whose grandfather came from Carrowmenagh, Inishowen.”
He added: “The Partnership firmly believes that the truest way to honour where we come from, is to invest in what comes next.
“A child’s future would not be decide by the street they grew up on, or by which side if a border they were born.”
