March 12, 2009

Pyle welcomes Irish delegation to special dinner

Councilmember Nancy Pyle and her husband Roger hosted a dinner Friday, March 6 for the delegates visiting from Dublin, Ireland, San Jose’s sister city.

Ken Byrne, Councilmember Nancy Pyle and Dublin Lord Mayor Eibhlin Byrne get together to spin a few yarns.

Each year Dublin’s lord mayor and officials from business, government, and universities travel to San Jose for a week to meet and exchange ideas. The Sister City Program is known as Twinning. The Dublin-San Jose relationship was established in 1986.

The purpose of the relationship is to work toward strengthening cultural, economic, artistic, sporting and educational ties between San Jose/Silicon Valley and Dublin. San Jose has one of the most international economies in the United States, with over $28 billion in exports in 2007 and extensive inward investment. The 2008 figures will not be released until late this month.

The sister-city program helps facilitate this economic development. Many San Jose area companies have significant operations in Ireland, including Google, eBay and Yahoo, which have established their European headquarters in Dublin during the past five years, providing a European marketplace for American goods. Cypress is a San Jose company that hires Irish engineers. San Jose is also actively pursuing the establishment of more Irish business in Silicon Valley.

Last July, Pyle led a group of San Jose delegates to Ireland for their bi-annual visit. On this trip Pyle made friends with many of the Dublin delegates, including Dublin’s current lord mayor, Eibhlin Byrne, so when they were here in San Jose for their yearly visit, she invited them to her home for a dinner to show her appreciation for their hospitality to her last summer.

San Jose delegate Tim Quigley, left, spends some time with Dublin City Manager John Tierney, right and his wife Sadie Tierney.

Dublin’s City Council is much larger than San Jose’s with 53 members in total but their councilors do not hold their positions as full-time employment. Only the lord mayor is employed full time and resides over the councilors, and only holds the position for one year and is selected from within the already-elected councilors.

The San Jose-Dublin Sister City Committee is a California nonprofit organization comprised of San Jose area residents committed to advancing the city’s relationship with Dublin. The committee plans and implements a wide range of programs to advance the sister-city relationship, including initiatives in education, the arts, sports, business and civic affairs. It sponsors the annual Spirit of Ireland Award Dinner each March, during the Dublin delegates visit and this year honored T. J. Rodgers, the founder, director, president and CEO of Cypress Semiconductor for his contributions in advancing the important U.S.-Ireland and San Jose-Dublin linkage.

During the last week the Dublin delegates met with representatives from the city and Santa Clara County on environmental, correctional and youth issues. All the Dublin delegates and the entire San Jose-Dublin Sister City Committee were invited to Pyle’s home and close to 60 people attended the dinner. The evening provided an informal opportunity for the group to catch up and rekindle the personal relationships begun last summer.