A changed Ireland and Irish America are intermingling as never before, writes NIALL O'DOWD.
UP TO 2,500 Leitrim natives took over Gaelic Park in the Bronx last weekend to cheer on their county football team who were facing New York in the opening round of the Connacht championship.
It was a remarkable development. Up to recently Leitrim was widely considered Ireland's poorest county and the notion of almost one in 10 of its residents flying to New York and taking over Gaelic Park would have been preposterous.
Times have changed and we are in the midst of a new era. The old certainties have fallen away. The world and lives of Ireland and Irish America are now intermingled like never before.
When Leitrim, a county long synonymous with poverty and emigration, can send a goodly share of its population to New York for a high-flying weekend, then we are in new territory.
It is in such extraordinary ways we see the impact of the new Ireland on America. There was another clear sign of how much things have changed at the American Ireland Fund dinner in Manhattan last week. The glittering affair, which starred actor Liam Neeson, was hugely boosted by the fact that more than $650,000 worth of tickets were sold by an Irish committee in Ireland, a large part of the $3.5 million raised on the night.
Irish philanthropy has long lagged behind the American model. There are increasing signs, however, that the American example is beginning to impact on Ireland.
For decades of course, all the money raised at such dinners went to Ireland and was raised by Irish Americans. Now even that may be about to change.
Kieran McLoughlin, president of the American Ireland Fund, says they are now prepared to look at programmes in the US that may need assistance.
He points to the successful outreach of his organisation in Britain, where a programme called The Forgotten Irish, which helps those emigrants from the 1950s and 1960s who have fallen on hard times, now receive assistance from the fund. It seems Ireland is ready to help those abroad, instead of always expecting the giving hand reaching in to them.
"We are prepared to look elsewhere, to assist outside the island of Ireland," says McLoughlin who has organised several record-breaking dinners in New York in the past few years. "It is fair to say that there is a new paradigm."
McLoughlin believes there are still plenty of challenges in Ireland and that a part of the new role of his organisation is to encourage and foster philanthropy there so that Irish groups can learn from the incredibly powerful American philanthropic experience.
That is certainly a long way from the old formula of awarding worthy charities funds and stipends to keep their organisations going. Now, with the number of millionaires in Ireland higher than in any other European country per capita, Ireland is developing a strong philanthropic culture of its own.
The Irish Government plays a huge role in that new consciousness. Now that Northern Ireland is essentially paddling its own canoe, there are many areas the Government can focus on anew.
It needs to grasp the leadership role that was denied it, especially in America, when Northern Ireland was a divisive issue and many Irish American groups disagreed strongly with it.
It is already taking on a new role in helping conflict resolution around the world, using the invaluable experience of the Northern conflict.
The Government is also endeavouring to provide a future flow of legal workers between Ireland the US which would play a critical part in maintaining the extraordinary relationship between the two countries.
It is time for the Government to step forward as leaders of the Irish Diaspora too. In tough economic times the Irish network worldwide is an increasingly valuable ally in setting up contacts, creating political influence and delivering investment and philanthropy.
In a week that two men associated with Co Offaly, Brian Cowen and Barack Obama, one of whose ancestors hailed from there, entered on to the world stage, the notion of a powerful Irish network worldwide should be uppermost in Government thinking.
It is an idea whose time has come in America. Last November a diaspora conference organised by Irish America Magazine attracted over 1,000 American business participants including Nobel Prize winners, Fortune 500 CEOs and community leaders. A follow-up global diaspora conference is planned for UCD this November.
In a micro sense the ringing cash registers in the bars and businesses in the Bronx attest to the benefits of such close liaison.
More importantly, the new ties created between an emigrant community and their home county will last into the future. It is clearly good for everyone's business when the Irish nation comes calling. Leitrim in New York is an example of what can be achieved on a wider scale.
Niall O'Dowd lives in New York. He founded theIrish Voice newspaper andIrish America Magazine.