Sarah Kavanagh: First Irish consul general in Florida targets business links

Sarah Kavanagh is consul general in Ireland’s consulate in Miami, which opened last year after the economic growth Florida experienced in recent years. Florida was previously covered by Atlanta’s consulate.

Ireland’s new consulate on Biscayne Boulevard is now covering Florida and will eventually cover Alabama, Mississippi, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. As the fastest-growing economy in the European Union, with $147.2 million in Florida exports to Ireland as of 2017, it was essential for Ireland to be represented in the state, said Ms. Kavanagh, and Miami was the perfect place.

Miami and Ireland share a lot of similarities, she said. “Ireland sees itself as the gateway to the European Union and a market of 440 million people. We’re very pro-business and we offer a lot of advantages to American companies that want to have a portal in the world’s largest single market” – the EU.

Ms. Kavanagh was previously deputy director of the Human Rights Unit of the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin. Prior to that, she was special adviser to the minister for Justice and Equality, and special adviser to the minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. She also worked in the Parliament of Ireland.

Irish companies have already invested a great deal in aviation and aerospace, information and communications technology, pharmaceuticals, cybersecurity, and higher education. The goal of Miami’s consulate is to grow those connections.

“I’m delighted to be Ireland’s first consul general in Miami,” said Ms. Kavanagh, speaking with Miami Today reporter Monica Correa.

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