The attendance at the colloquium included the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ms Liz O'Donnell; the Irish Ambassador to the US, Mr Sean O hUiginn and Ireland's Permanent Representative to the UN, Mr Richard Ryan. Other diplomats present included Ireland's Consul General in Boston, Ms Orla O'Hanrahan; the Deputy Consul General, Mr Joe Hackett, and the Deputy Consul General in New York, Mr Adrian McDaid.
Also in attendance were the former US ambassador to Ireland, Ms Jean Kennedy Smith; the president of Dublin City University, Dr Danny O'Hare; the poet and Harvard academic, Seamus Heaney, and his wife, Marie; the President's husband, Dr Martin McAleese; the special adviser to the President, Ms Eileen Gleeson; the editor of the Boston Globe, Mr Matthew Storin; Aer Lingus's group director of corporate affairs, Mr Dan Loughrey, and his wife, Jo; Ms Bernie Kenny, of the Aer Lingus corporate affairs department; the president and chief executive of the Irish American Partnership, Mr Joseph Leary; Mr Peter Ryan, of the Office of the Taoiseach; Ms Elizabeth Shannon, of Boston University; Ms Heather Pars Campion, senior vice-president of the Citizens' Financial Group.
Representatives of Harvard University included Senator Alan Simpson, director of the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government; Ms Sheila Burke, executive dean and lecturer in public policy; Mr James Cooney, assistant dean for international studies; Mr Joseph J. McCarthy, associate dean; Ms Catherine McLaughlin, deputy director of the Institute of Politics.
Representing The Irish Times were the editor, Mr Conor Brady, and his wife, Ann; Mr Eoin McVey, a director and managing editor; Mr Joe Carroll, Washington Correspondent, and his wife, Cathy; former Washington Correspondent, Mr Sean Cronin; Mr Sean Hogan, of the editor's office; Ms Ella Shanahan, editor of the "Education and Living" section; and Ms Paula O'Gorman, of the paper's Education Services Department.