What's the Kennedy Summer School, New Ross doing in Boston?
Kennedy Summer School
This morning the Boston College Ireland Business Council partners with the Kennedy Summer School to bring Irish and US politics and culture into conversation. For Boston College this is highly important. Here’s why we do it…
The Kennedy Summer School is an experience. It is St Michael's Theater; The Theater Tavern; and lock-ins. For the Americans in the room, a lock-in to a bar has a negative connotation-- it immediately brings to mind Chazz Palminteri in A Bronx Tale delivering street-justice to unwelcome guests—“Satan’s Messengers”. But, thankfully, in New Ross what this all means is an endless supply of pints, sausage rolls and “sang-whiches”, and deep, long discussions about US and Irish politics with interesting political thinkers and leaders.
The Kennedy Summer School is a special event that contributes to transatlantic engagement, trust, and community. And that is why Boston College has been a steadfast supporter and engaged in a number of ways. We are pleased to continue that engagement today with the second installment of the Kennedy Summer School in Boston.
Changing nature of Boston’s politics and communities
We are here today to discuss two interrelated subjects-- the changing nature of Boston, its politics, and its communities and the relationships between the United State, Ireland, and the European Union. We’re privileged to have leaders from Ireland and Boston join us today to discuss these issues, and for you to take your Friday morning to be with us for this discussion.
Earlier this week, Michel Barnier, EU’s Chief Brexit Negotiator said, “our goal is to protect the Good Friday Agreement, peace on this island, and the integrity of the single market”. But discussions continue and outcomes are far from certain.
How EU, US, and Irish relationships develop depends not only on the resolution of those discussions but of the conversations and interactions we have in the US and across Boston. What we become and how we act, will structure the kinds of transatlantic relationships we have in the future. And so today’s conversations here in the Kennedy Summer School are both local and global at the same time.
The Kennedy Summer School is special. It brings together people to share ideas in a productive yet entertaining ways. And the ideas shared are important; critically important to people on both sides of the Atlantic. So New Ross and Boston become linked as partners for a shared future with shared commitments in a transatlantic community.
Thank you Noel Whelan, Brian Murphy, Larry Donnelley, and Eileen Dunne for their welcoming friendship into the Kennedy Summer School community; and thank you to the Ireland Gateway to Europe for their continued partnership.
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