Irish Ambassador Anne Anderson

Irish Ambassador to the US, Anne Anderson, in a speech to more than 400 people attending an awards program in Philadelphia on Thursday, illustrated the paradox of the Irish economic recovery. Called the European Union’s “bright spot,” Ireland’s economic growth has outpaced the rest of the Euro zone, its Moody’s rating has climbed from “junk” to investment grade, and Forbes Magazine recently called it the best place to do business in Europe.

But a 12 percent unemployment rate—a figure she admitted would be higher if young people weren’t still leaving Ireland in droves–still makes immigration reform in the US one of her top priorities, said Anderson at the Ambassador Awards at the Hyatt at the Bellevue, the premier event of the year of the Philadelphia-based Irish-American Business Chamber and Network.

She told a story of going home to Tipperary not long ago “where I went into the local pub for tea and sandwiches, and started talking to the barman. I asked him how things were and he told me it was great at Christmas, there had been a lot of life around the place until all the young people had gone back.” She asked him where they’d gone. “Australia,” he told her.

“They should have an opportunity to come here,” Anderson told the crowd, urging them to contact their local lawmakers to remind them that “this immigration issue has an Irish face.”

There are an estimated 50,000 undocumented Irish people in the US. “Most are employed, pay taxes and are good upstanding, god-fearing citizens,” said Anderson, who was Ireland’s permanent representative to the United Nations before replacing longtime Irish Ambassador Michael Collins nearly six months ago. “But they’re living in the shadows and I don’t have to tell you the human toll this takes—they’re unable to go back to Ireland for a terminally ill parent, a funeral, a wedding.”

The reason for the high number of Irish undocumented: It’s the unintended consequence of an immigration overhaul in the 1960s meant to end bias against immigrants from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. That left the Irish “with an infinitesimal share of green cards,” said Anderson.

Although several bills have been introduced in Congress to increase the number of green cards available to Irish citizens, immigration reform—like just about everything else in the US Congress—has been the victim of partisan skirmishes. There’s unlikely to be any movement in that direction unless some of the players change.

Anderson acknowledged that talking about Ireland’s recovery and at the same time pointing out the need to forge a new pathway for Irish immigrants to the US seems inconsistent. “We don’t want anyone forced out of Ireland,” she said. “But in the current circumstances [Ireland’s high unemployment rate] it’s a fact of life.”

Since many IABCN members do or want to do business in Ireland—like this year’s Ambassador’s Award winner SAP, the German multinational business software company with a US headquarters in Newtown Square and more than 1200 employees in three offices in Ireland—they’re no strangers to the facts of Irish life.

In fact, in his acceptance speech, SAP US President Gregory McStravick echoed Ambassador Anderson’s comment, citing Ireland’s highly educated populace and favorable business atmosphere, that “no one invests in Ireland for sentimental reasons.”

“We’re not doing it for sentimental reasons,” he told the crowd. “We’re not doing it because we’re good people, though we are. We’re doing it because it makes good sense for our business. There’s some very good talent in Ireland. . .and there are great benefits to doing business in Ireland.”

The Ambassador’s Award is one of three the IABCN gives out annually. Denis O’Brien, senior executive vice president of Exelon Corporation and CEO of Exelon Utilities (which includes PECO), was chosen to receive the Taoiseach Award, given to individuals of Irish descent who shows “exemplary leadership and compassion,” long before this year’s winter storms made this an “annum horribilis” for PECO.

Although more than 700,000 of its customers lost power–some for nearly a week—PECO got relatively good marks from most for its response: Thousands of PECO worker, putting in 16-hour days, with the help of more than 2,000 out-of-state electrical workers, restored power to all its customers in six days. It was the second worst storm in the company’s history.

Ann Claffey Baiada, RN, CRRN, director of Bayada Home Health Care, received the Uachtaran Award, given yearly to people of Irish descent who make “significant civic, cultural, or social contributions to the United States or Ireland, particularly contributions to the Irish diaspora.”

Baiada, who traces her family’s roots to County Donegal, grew up in a strongly Irish community in Germantown where, she said, “we had many mothers and you didn’t dare cross any of them.” It was also a community where she said everyone learned the important lessons, knowing right from wrong and to “take care of each other.”

The Irish American Business Chamber and Network is a nonprofit organization that promotes development of economic and education partnerships between the US, Ireland, and Northern Ireland.

View more photos from the event here.