Council delegation makes productive visit to New York

A delegation from Fingal County Council, which visited New York last week for the US launch of the television programme Tradfest – The Fingal Sessions, also held a series of meetings around tourism, culture and investment.

The group, which was led by the Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Adrian Henchy, included the chair of the Economic, Enterprise and Tourism Development Strategic Policy Committee, Cllr Darragh Butler, as well as Chief Executive AnnMarie Farrelly and the Director of Economic, Enterprise, Tourism and Cultural Development, John Quinlivan.

Meeting were held with Tourism Ireland, IDA, Irish Arts Center, Irish Business Organisation, Dublin Society of New York, New York Tourism + Conventions, WNET and All Arts.

The Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Adrian Henchy, said: “It was a short but very productive trip. We made a lot of good contacts and we learned a lot from the various discussions we had. The meetings also gave us an opportunity to make people aware of the many advantages that Fingal can offer to anybody wanting to come and visit, invest or work here.”

The delegation presented the recently launched Fingal Tourism Strategy to members of Tourism Ireland’s North American team and discussions revolved around their plans to market Ireland in the US and the opportunities that exist to grow the number of visitors to Fingal. In the meeting with New York Tourism + Conventions the group heard about New York markets its five boroughs to both domestic and international visitors.

The IDA meeting was an opportunity to take officials through the recently approved Fingal Economic Strategy and highlight the many advantages of Fingal as a location for foreign direct investment. These included access to serviced development land, excellent connectivity, and a young and highly educated workforce as well as Fingal being an excellent location for workers relocating from abroad.

The trip also included a visit to the Irish Arts Center where the delegation was given a tour of the building including the 165 seater theatre which is similar to what is being planned for the new Cultural Centre that is being built in Swords.

The delegation also met with officers from the New York based Irish Business Organisation as well as the President of the Dublin Society of New York. This was part of an effort to tap into the Irish disaspora and these meetings proved very extremely fruitful.

The centrepiece of the trip was the launch of the music programme, Tradfest – The Fingal Sessions, hosted in the historic Fraunces Tavern in Manhattan. The attendance included a significant number of elected officials, media, tourism, cultural and business representatives from across New York and the US as well as Fingal, Dublin and Irish diaspora. It also included staff from Tourism Ireland and the New York Consul General’s office. The launch also enabled the delegation to meet with executives from WNET and the All Arts television channel to discuss how the programme will be distributed to Public Broadcast Service stations across the US to promote Fingal’s cultural and tourism offering in the coming months and years. 

The Chief Executive of Fingal County Council, Annmarie Farrelly, said: “It was a very informative trip and the people we met in New York were extremely generous with their time and the information they gave us. It is important that we make people aware of what Fingal has to offer to visitors and investors as there is a lot of competition for both from inside and outside Ireland.”