It is an honour to be with you this evening.
It is seven months since I first came to New York as Taoiseach.
Since then, we have seen turbulence in the world economy that is unprecedented for this generation.
That has led to great hurt and pain among ordinary hard-working people on both sides of the Atlantic. People who have worked hard all their lives have seen their jobs lost or threatened, their pensions and their savings reduced or even wiped.
It is a time of enormous challenge.
It will require courage, imagination and leadership to emerge from this unprecedented crisis.
That, more than anything else, is why we gather here tonight.
There are reasons for hope and optimism.
The election of President Barack Obama has been a source of great hope, not only here but in Ireland and across the world.
The world once more looks to America, as it has so often done in the past.
I draw great inspiration from this country and from from its capacity for hope and renewal even in the face of great adversity.
The American Irish Historical Society - one of the finest buildings on 5th Avenue - is itself a symbol in stone of those very same qualities that Irish emigrants brought to this city.
They brought hope in a bright future and the determination and character to make that future happen.
We have left our mark on New York.
We left our mark on the fabric of this city: Brooklyn Bridge, St Patrick's Cathedral, the Empire State Building.
We left our mark on its character - in the commitment to public service exemplified by the men and women of the New York Fire Department and the New York Police Department.
And if we gave, we benefitted in equal measure.
It was here that we tested our belief in ourselves and built the skills and confidence to compete with the best and win.
And I draw inspiration from many of those gathered here tonight - many familiar faces - all deeply committed to the Irish American relationship.
I want to talk about that relationship tonight - to set out my philosophy, as clearly and as simply as I can.
Our relationship with America is of truly special importance to us.
I believe that Americans of Irish Ancestry - our diaspora - are the heart of that relationship. You are its motive force.
I believe that our relationship is a proud and equal one, tied not only to culture and history but to our economic interest and well-being in a global economy.
I believe that Ireland would be poorer without a strong Irish America.
But I believe equally that America would be poorer too, without the strongest links to Ireland.
The connections between Ireland and our diaspora remain strong.
But we cannot take them for granted.
Unless they are nurtured and cared for, they will fade, as other groups in this country have faded.
That is why last July, I announced my intention to conduct a strategic review of Ireland's relationship with America.
I said then that we were entering a new era, one that posed enormous challenges to both countries.
That prediction has proved more true than any of us might have wished.
Our objective was to revitalise the Ireland - US relationship.
To equip us to better meet the economic and social challenges ahead.
To expand the business networks that support Irish jobs and to deepen our engagement with US business leaders to better support our long term economic planning.
To ensure that our young people can work, gain experience and live in the United States and that our older emigrants receive the social and practical support they have richly earned.
To build our partnership with the White House, with Congress and with leaders all across America.
To build a new generation of leaders who care for this relationship as we do.
To deepen the knowledge and love of Irish culture in this country and to reach out to our Diaspora with a generous and open hand as they have reached back to Ireland.
Ambassador Collins consulted widely and hundreds of groups and individuals gave very valuable input.
That process is now complete and our aim is nothing less than a step change in our relations with this country.
This evening I want to outline our main priorities and the steps we plan to take next.
The first priority for all of us is to protect jobs and take the necessary steps now to ensure that both of our economies have a clear headstart when the upswing in the global economy occurs.
I believe we can weather the difficulties ahead and emerge even stronger.
We have the people - a young, ambitious, confident and well-educated work force.
But most of all we have the character to come through this and emerge stronger.
I am also determined that we are out on the ground in the United States to take advantage of new economic opportunities as they arise.
I am announcing tonight that we will open a new Consulate General in Atlanta serving Georgia and the adjoining region.
That region has long been one of the fastest growing regions in the United States, offering an expanding market to Irish exporters and invaluable investment from companies such as Coca Cola and research benefits through Georgia tech.
Yet we have no fulltime diplomatic presence in this region or in any of the Southern States.
This will change with this new initiative.
I also intend that in due course, we will expand further by opening a new office in Houston, Texas.
And we will expand our Honorary Consular network to reach out more widely to business and to Irish communities.
We will also take steps to support and develop the networks that have developed around business and that have been so valuable for Irish business.
This week, the political partnership between Ireland the United States is renewed once more.
I look forward greatly to my meetings with President Obama, with Speaker Pelosi and with all our friends in your nation's capital.
Our partnership with Washington is made visible every year on Saint Patrick's Day.
But what keeps that partnership dynamic is quiet and constant flow of communication between our Embassy, the US administration and Congress.
Not to deepen that partnership at a time of unprecedented global challenges, would be folly.
We will do so in closest consultation with our friends in Congress.
We will deepen our dialogue with the administration on common concerns such as conflict resolution, disarmament, non-proliferation and development.
This administration should know that Ireland can be one of its staunchest friends in Europe.
This week is a week of celebration for Irish men and women around the world.
Our Diaspora is our greatest global asset.
They have consistently reached back to Ireland. It is time we reached out in similar measure.
We have to recognise outstanding contributions to Ireland by members of the Diaspora.
In 1848, Michael Keough left Ireland at the age of 18. One hundred and sixty years later, Don Keough, Chairman Emeritus of Coca Cola returned to Ireland to be on hand when Coca Cola announced a major new investment in Wexford.
Don is a modest and unassuming man. He is with us tonight, though you would hardly know it.
Yet you will find he has left an indelible mark on Irish business and on Irish studies in this country and, indeed, on the building we stand in.
Don's a quiet American, fiercely proud of his Irishness.
And we are fiercely proud of him. We cannot overstate what you and a other leaders of Irish America like you have done.
It is the case that under our laws, a relatively small proportion of Americans of Irish ancestry qualify for Irish citizenship.
For those who do not, we will introduce a certificate of ancestry acknowledging your Irish roots.
We will arrange improved on-line access to genealogical records, a fast-track naturalisation regime for those who have studied in Ireland and who have Irish great grandparents, and new arrangements for frequent visitors to Ireland.
We all know that we must treasure our history, as well as plan for the future.
That history is one of great achievement, but also of incredible adversity.
In many ways, the Famine is the foundation-narrative of Irish America.
The Irish Government has recently put arrangements in place to commemorate the famine each year in a different location overseas.
From now on, we will augment this with an annual commemoration in the United States.
Looking to the future as well as the past, as part of our new strategy we will further intensify our work with a new generation of leaders in America.
We will support and encourage new online links for Irish communities and networks, such as the new Irishcentral.com website that I will launch this evening.
Networks are built around people and all the social engineering in the world will count for nothing if young people cannot travel easily between Ireland and the US as they have done in the past.
Without travel and experience of the wider working world, our societies risk turning inward. That risk is even greater when economies are ailing and times are tough.
We want young Americans to travel, study and gain life experience in Ireland. We want them to return with an understanding for and a love of Ireland.
Likewise we want our young people to experience life in this country and when they return to Ireland, as many inevitably will, we want them to bring an American reflex with them.
I care passionately about this relationship, not least because I lived and worked in this city.
I played football in the Bronx and members of my family live and have deep roots here.
Without this personal, lived experience, the Ireland - US relationship might exist in our heads but not in our hearts.
That personal experience must be constantly renewed and replenished.
That is why my Government is committed to re-energising the J1 visa programme, to agreeing a new reciprocal 2-year working visa deal and to finding a long-term solution for the undocumented in this country.
We are committed to offering new means for young Americans to encounter Ireland through new schools linkages, expanded internship programmes and Irish studies programmes.
We want to see a new leadership development programme to enable emerging leaders in this country connect with young leaders in Ireland.
And I am asking our universities and higher education institutes to consider how we could better coordinate efforts to promote educational opportunities to US students.
Lastly, I want to say a word about our culture.
Most Americans encounter Ireland today through culture: whether that is Irish dance and music, Irish film, Irish writing or an Irish play on Broadway.
We have to be prepared to invest in our cultural infrastructure here, as we do in Ireland.
As a first step, I am asking Culture Ireland with the Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism and the Department of Foreign Affairs, to prepare a series of high profile cultural events in this country in 2011 to take advantage of recovery.
A Chairde,
This is an ambitious programme.
It contains many ideas and proposals.
It will require vigourous implementation.
To bring this forward, I have asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin to establish a new cabinet-level Ireland - US Stategic Policy Group at home.
This group will report personally to me as Taoiseach and will have the full support of my office.
Of course, the other pillar must be equally strong, on this side of the Atlantic.
Any enduring relationship has to be premised on partnership and our partnership with irish American leaders is fundamental.
I have therefore asked Minister Martin to chair an Irish Leadership Council bringing together the leadership of all of the major Irish organisations and networks in the United States and harnessing their efforts to common puropose.
I am grateful to all who have helped us to generate these new ideas.
I thank you for your leadership in years gone by and I look forward to your continued support in the future.
As the very fabric of this great city tells us all, the Irish don't lie down when times are tough.
We fight back.
Finally, a chairde, I want to pay tribute tonight to our honouree, Dr Kevin Cahill - a great American, a great Irishman and a great humanitarian.
The Irish famine, which brought so many to this country, was caused not by a lack of food but by a lack of caring.
The Irish in America have always remembered that.
Perhaps it that's they have produced so many great humanitarians.
Kevin is one of the finest.
We are in his debt, not only for his work on humanitarian relief and, through the College of Surgeons, in tropical medicine, but also because he somehow found time to preserve this building for future generations of Irish in America.
For that, Kevin, thank you.
I want to pay tribute also to Niall O'Dowd for the role that you and your colleagues in the Irish Voice and Irish America have played in pioneering great Irish business networks such as the Wall Street 50 and the Top Business 100.
Your have always reminded us that the Irish are not an island people but a great dispersed global family.
It is my great honour tonight, as we launch a new era in Ireland's relationship with America, to usher in a new era of communication within that family.
I am therefore delighted to formally launch IrishCentral.com.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh.