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Consul General of Ireland David Barry had
never visited Boston before he took his present assignment in 2005, but
with its strong ties to his homeland, he felt immediately at home in the
city.
“You already have a head start when you come here,” Barry said. “Boston
is perhaps like no other place in terms of openness and camaraderie.”
More than anything else, though, it was the city’s friendly nature that
struck Barry. “Everyone was quick to invite me to an event
and welcome me,” he said. “When you arrive here, for a couple of months
you really think you’re a truly wonderful person who hasn’t been
recognized before, but you get over that.”
Born in 1954, Barry was raised and attended primary and secondary school
85 miles southwest of Dublin in County Tipperary. He earned a bachelor
of commerce degree from University College Dublin in 1978 and completed
his MBA at Warwick Business School at the University of Warwick in the
United Kingdom 17 years later. In 1978, Barry was accepted into
Ireland’s Diplomatic Corps as a full-time civil servant and diplomat.
His overseas assignments brought him to locales including London,
Belfast, Austria and Ethiopia, but it was the time he spent in South
Africa that made perhaps the most profound impression on Barry.
Between 1986 and 1990, Barry served as the head of the consul in
Lesotho, a land-locked country entirely surrounded by the Republic of
South Africa, and saw firsthand the disintegration of apartheid during
this time.
“The whole transformation happened without there being any great
violence,” he said. “As a bureaucrat, I just sat back and admired it.”
Prior to being named Consul General, Barry served as the temporary
secondment to the Department of Trade, Enterprise & Employment in Dublin
from 1991 to 1995. In this role, he handled the Economic Migration
Policy – a course of action pertaining to the financial consequences of
migration to and from Ireland – and was subsequently responsible for the
Employment and Training Strategy Policy.
Now, as Consul General to Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine
and New Hampshire, Barry remains committed to fostering Ireland’s
economy, as well as helping Irish companies that hope to break into
business in the U.S. Through Enterprise Ireland, the country’s agency
committed to industrial growth, Barry helps advise new Irish businesses
in Boston on what sells and what steps need to be taken before entering
the local marketplace. He can even provide them with office space at
Enterprise Ireland’s Milk Street location.
Barry is also the primary contact for Irish immigrants in Boston and
visitors to his homeland. His responsibilities range from helping
newcomers to the country understand a local train schedule to assisting
Irish immigrants who have legal problems to recommending hotels in
Ireland to tourists. He also refers people in need of assistance to the
area’s two Irish immigration centers.
But these days, the duty that consumes much of Barry’s time also brings
him the most grief: issuing the new electronic passports to Irish
citizens. With the new system that was introduced last fall, finding
compatible passport photographs s a painstaking task, as many applicants
discovered after their images were repeatedly rejected.
“The amount of effort producing a similar amount of passports today is
out of proportion from where it was six months ago,” Barry said. “It’s
just turned out to be a frustration for a number of people. It’s a
frustration for us and a frustration for them in particular.”
While Barry and his wife Norma live a short walk from his Boylston
Street office on Commonwealth Avenue, his work brings him to events
throughout the region. (The couple children – David, 18, Kevin, 19, and
Andrew, 24 – still live in Ireland but visit Boston frequently).
The weeks leading up to St. Patrick’s Day meant that Barry’s presence
was requested at an event nearly every night, and his appearances
included Tom Flatley’s 21st Annual St. Patrick’s Day Dinner at the
Shrafft Center. Barry was particularly honored to be a guest of Flatley,
who came penniless to the U.S. and today, as president of the Flatley
Company, is undoubtedly one of Massachusetts’ great success stories.
“Flatley is a classic example of the American Dream,” Barry said.
As for what lies ahead, Barry said Ireland and the Irish people are
returning to the core issues.
He points to how Ireland is emerging as a real contender in the global
economic landscape, adding that the U.S. edged out the United Kingdom as
Ireland’s largest export market in recent years “Whatever happens, our
presence here is important,” he said.
Another issue at the forefront is a reform bill for undocumented illegal
aliens being championed by Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy.
“Can you find a way moving forward to accommodate some of these people
including the Irish?” Barry asked, adding that regardless of the
outcome, it would be a victory for illegal Irish immigrants who are
currently in limbo. “Whatever emerges in terms of legislation will help
people work freely and come out of the shadows and travel to and from
Ireland,” he said.
And Barry can’t help but be reminded of the transformation of South
Africa that he witnessed as a young delegate in light of this week’s
agreement between Ian Paisley, a political and religious leader from
North Ireland, and President of Sinn Féin, Gerry Adams, that would grant
Northern Ireland its independence from British rule.
“We’ve spent many years trying to put it back together again,” he said.
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