Massachusetts State Representative Mike Day speaking at the Irish Consulate reception that served as curtain raiser for the 11th annual Golden Bridges conference in Boston.
By Irish Echo Staff
Irish America will not allow Brexit to torpedo the progress made in the Irish peace process.
That was the pledge by Massachusetts State legislator Mike Day in his address Thursday evening, November 14, to the opening reception of the Golden Bridges conference in Boston’s Irish Consulate.
Now in its eleventh year, the Irish Echo-sponsored conference promotes links between Ireland’s Northwest, the greater Boston area and Massachusetts.
“The saga of Brexit has roiled not just Northwest Ireland but global economies and it is up to all of us, civic leaders, political leaders and business leaders to step forward and be counted,” said State Representative Day.
“This conference affords us the opportunity to reaffirm the special relationships between the Boston region and Derry-Donegal and to deliver the message that the U.S. will not allow Brexit to roll back the civic, economic and political progress that has been made over the past 20 years.”
An attorney by profession, Day has focused his political work on protecting civil liberties through his position on the Judiciary Committee of the Massachusetts legislature.
A proud son of Woburn, MA, Day studied at University College Cork in 1994-1995 and said his time there had deepened his understanding of Irish politics.
“As a student of history and politics, I could not have hoped to be in a better place at that time,” he said.
“The combination of the roaring economy and the prospects of a lasting peace on the island ushered in a period of great confidence and optimism about the future of Ireland.”
Consul General of Ireland in Boston, Laoise Moore, welcomed over sixty people from Boston and counties Derry and Donegal to the Golden Bridges conference and reiterated the Irish government’s commitment to transatlantic partnerships.
Also addressing the consulate gathering was Presbyterian minister, the Reverend David Latimer, who has penned a memoir about the relationship he forged with the late Sinn Féin leader and Deputy First Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive, Martin McGuinness.
