Kevin O’Malley, the grandson of Irish immigrants, was the U.S. ambassador to Ireland from 2014 to 2017 and the first ambassador to Ireland from St. Louis. A lawyer for the U.S. Justice Department and then for Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, he left the firm to become ambassador and has rejoined it now that he’s returned to St. Louis. He plans to promote business connections between Ireland and St. Louis, as well as share some of the lessons he learned in his ancestral home.
What do you miss most about Ireland? The overwhelmingly warm welcome provided to the American ambassador and to all Americans because of the love and admiration that the Irish have for the United States. It’s at the cellular level. It’s not intellectual, where they’ve read our history and found it fascinating; it’s Cousin Seamus going to the U.S. because he couldn’t get a job in Cork, and all of a sudden he owns four restaurants and employs 50 people.
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What’s so special about the U.S.–Irish relationship? Both are leaders in the trans-Atlantic economic market. The relationship started with poor Irish immigrants coming to the U.S. My own grandparents, who were destitute, came to the U.S. with seven children and just $20 to their name. Now, their grandson got to go back as the person representing the U.S. That’s why they love the United States.
What could St. Louis learn from the Irish? Ireland presents itself as a unified force when seeking American investment. You wouldn’t have Galway competing with Dublin, cutting its tax structure to get business over Dublin. The quasi-governmental agencies, which promote foreign investment, promote Ireland as a country. As a result, they don’t have the fractionalism and undercutting that’s so terrible to see in St. Louis.
Are public resources shared more equally in Ireland? As a rule. Ireland is no different than most places in the world in that people on the lower economic scale are not treated as well as people in the upper economic scale, but it’s much more even in Ireland than in the U.S.
What role has the corporate tax rate played in Ireland’s economic resurgence? Taxes play a role. The corporate tax rate in Ireland is 12.5 percent. That’s it. There are no deductions, no interest—none of those shenanigans we have in the U.S. As a lawyer, if I were asked to advise a company about opening a branch in Ireland, I would certainly research the tax aspects. The official corporate tax rate in the U.S. is something like 36 percent, but nobody ever paid it. The gap between 12.5 percent and what most American companies pay is not that dramatic. If you’re paying the maximum tax rate in the U.S., it’s obvious you don’t know a lawyer or an accountant. I will argue—and there is no way to prove this—that there are other factors that I think are of equal or greater importance right now… When Brexit occurs, Ireland will be the only English-speaking country in the European Union. That’s important. Ireland is the only English-speaking country using the Euro. That’s a big thing. The E.U. is the largest market in the world, with 550 million consumers. We use Ireland as our jumping-off place to France, Germany, Italy. It is our Gateway to the East.
Besides taxes, why do American companies relocate to Ireland? Ireland has a well-educated, devoted work force, which American companies view very well. They speak English, they’re in the Euro zone, they use the Euro, they’re well educated, the taxes – all of these are true, but the biggest reason we do so well is we simply get one another. There is nothing lost in translation when it comes to concepts between the Irish and Americans. There is with the British, even though the British have been in every fox hole we’ve been in since our initial skirmish, there’s always a little bit of colonial rub. I don’t know if it’s Americans always feeling the British think they’re superior to us or what it is, but there’s always a little friction between the Americans and the British. There isn’t that friction between the Irish and Americans. Their arms are open, it’s “let me buy you a beer.” It’s the same when they come here. The fact that we get one another is the reason there are 700 American companies now resident in Ireland providing a great deal of the resurgence to the Irish economy. When people say “tax haven” that is a nice bullet point that misses the target.
What is the most fallacious stereotype of an Irish person? The drunken fighter.
What is a positive Irish stereotype that is accurate? Their family orientation. The family in Ireland is the coin of the realm. Families are everything. Ireland has a pro-business environment. Jobs are hugely important in Ireland because they understand with good jobs come strong families. The family is the ultimate goal. Your mom, your dad, and your children, that family unit is sacred. It’s the whole deal. The Irish understand that jobs provide for stable families. It keeps everybody together. It moves society forward. Jobs and families are two different words, but the Irish they are tremendously related, they’re inseparable.
Is it true that the Irish love politics? I would raise “love” to “addiction.” I was heavily involved in both election campaigns for President Barack Obama. It was my intention to avoid the 2016 election, not to pay too much attention to it, because I had been so steeped in the last two campaigns. If I didn’t follow it in minute detail, though, the Irish would think I was sleeping. The Irish wanted to know, at every step of the way, what was happening. They knew all 16 Republican candidates and all their peccadilloes. They followed it with great fear. They talked about it all the time.
What did they think of the outcome? Ireland is a more liberal place than the U.S. What would be considered conservative in Ireland would be considered mildly liberal in the U.S. They were shocked.
What do the Irish think now? That we’ve gone off the rails. The anti-immigrant rhetoric is offensive to Irish ears, American ears, and papal ears. The Irish routinely use the word “generous” to describe Americans. They are perplexed why this country—which has opened its arms to so many immigrants and prospered by having taken in so many immigrants—would do this. This talk about building walls is terribly confusing to them. They see us as good people; they don’t see a need to make America great again.
Do the Irish see President Trump as a BS artist? Do they understand malarkey when they hear it? Absolutely. The Irish are great storytellers—but they know when they’re being told a story.
What do you enjoy about going back? I love the place—I always have. I’ve seen every inch of Ireland, every county; there’s no need to see any more. I enjoy being around the people. There is a charm to the Irish that is hard to put into words. Sometimes it’s sad, sometimes it’s happy; it’s always charming to me. They’re a wonderful people.
