Irish Minister Has Lunch
with the Harris School
September 30, 2010
Just days after opposition from Ireland's Fine Gael Party almost prevented her trip to the United States, Deputy Prime Minister Mary Coughlan leaned against a lectern at the University of Chicago’s downtown Gleacher Center. Although her posture was casual and her intermittent smiles were warm, her tone was urgent.
She was talking about Ireland’s fragile economy and how its ruling Fianna Fáil Party, to which Coughlan belongs, has had to make painful spending cuts in attempt to rein in the threat of a Greek-like debt crisis. “That’s the price of politics,” Coughlan said at the private event for Harris School Dean's International Council and Visiting Committee advisory board members on September 29. “You have to do the right thing, even if it’s unpopular.”
Coughlan, who is also the country’s Minister of Education, stopped in Chicago as part of a “trade and education mission” to build relationships with U.S. high schools and universities in order to attract more American students to study in Ireland. Accompanied by representatives from Irish universities, Coughlan said education could be the bedrock of her country’s future economic growth. “We’re here because of the opportunities we see in the internationalization of education,” she said.
Frank Ryan, the head of Enterprise Ireland, an organization responsible for the growth of Irish business abroad, was quoted in an Irish newspaper estimating that Coughlan’s trip should help increase the growing income from overseas students to €1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) this year.
Still, Fine Gael nearly forced Coughlan and her delegation to stay home by withdrawing a crucial “pairing agreement” usually given when ministers are away on official business.
Pairing is an arrangement where a parliament member of one party agrees with an opposing party member not to vote on a particular matter, giving both the opportunity to be absent. When Fine Gael would not extend this courtesy late last week, and it appeared Coughlan would have to cancel her trip, the Labour Party stepped in at the last minute to offer her a pairing.
After delivering her address at the Harris School lunch, Coughlan and her entourage met with Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. The next day, they traveled to St. Louis for a lunch with the National Association of High School Scholars and meetings with other institutions. She returned to Ireland on Friday, October 1.
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