Limerick has made its first steps to building business investment links in Silicon Valley, according to the Limerick’s Mayor, Cllr Ger Fahy, after he recently visited the Californian region. 

Mayor of Limerick Cllr Ger Fahy presents a gift of Limerick Lace to Mayor of San Francisco Gavin Newson at the Irish Week flag raising ceremony in San Francisco City Hall.

A delegation from City Hall, including: Mayor Fahy, City Manager Tom Mackey and Director of Services at Limerick City Council, Kieran Lehane, were invited to California by the Irish Technology Leadership Group based in Silicon Valley.

The aim of the visit was to explore the possibility of building strong trade, technology, educational and cultural links between Limerick City and one of the Silicon Valley’s major cities, Santa Clara.

Both Limerick City and Santa Clara are similar in size and they both have top class universities.

Limerick man, John Hartnett, who is the Chairman of the Irish Technology Leadership Group in the Silicon Valley, arranged the visit of the civic and academic delegation, which also included University of Limerick President Professor Don Barry and Director of Corporate Affairs Eamonn Cregan.

Mayor Fahy and Limerick City Manager Tom Mackey addressed a meeting, which was televised live to over 100,000 homes.

“I was pleased with the warm reception we received and there was a general surprise all round when I informed the meeting that I was the 811th Mayor of Limerick City,” Mayor Fahy said.

Cllr Fahy gave an outline of the history of Limerick and the city’s major achievements in sport, the arts, business and education before receiving a standing ovation at the end of his speech.

During the five-day visit to California, the City Hall delegation met with the IDA West Coast Director, Dermot Tuohy to discuss possible investment by Silicon Valley companies in Limerick City.

A meeting was facilitated during the trip at the global headquarters of Palm Inc to discuss possible business links.
The City Hall delegation also visited the Intel Corporation headquarters where they met Limerick man, Rory McInerney, who is one of their senior managers.

“We hope this visit will be the first step in building mutually beneficial links between Limerick and Santa Clara in trade, technology, education and culture,” Mayor Fahy said.

In a fruitful mission, the City Hall delegation also met with the Consul General of Ireland Émer Deane, at Irish Consulate in San Francisco and also attended the annual Irish Week flag raising ceremony at San Francisco City Hall.

The possibility of building strong relationship between the University of Santa Clara and the University of Limerick was also discussed during the five-day visit.

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