Experts in politics, Editors and journalists, Ministers, An Tánaiste, the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, the Garda Commissioner and leading global academics are all visiting New Ross this weekend.
The three day Kennedy Summer School is set in the Wexford town, the proud homestead of President John F. Kennedy.
Some 30 speakers will take to the stage over the weekend.
This year's summer school theme is a 'Festival of Irish and American, History, Politics and Culture’ and guest speakers will participate discussing a wide range of topics such as Irish politics, the U.S. election, Brexit.
The United States Ambassador to Ireland Kevin F. O’Malleyl officially opened the 2016 Kennedy Summer School in New Ross on Thursday, evening while the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland unveiled a plaque to the great actor James O’Neill and father of Nobel Prize winning playwright Eugene O’Neill on the Quayside. James O’Neill departed Ireland from the New Ross Quayside aboard the ship ‘India’ bound for the ‘New World’ in 1851.
The Ambassador will also visited the Emigrant Flame on the new Ross Quayside where he will lay a wreath remembering all of those who have departed these shores.
Noel Whelan, Director of the Summer School says, "This year’s summer school comes at a very dramatic time in both Irish and American politics and indeed at a crucial time in Irish/American relations. The line up we have gathered in New Ross for the weekend will no doubt have many compelling and interesting things to say."
Taking the Summer School to a close this evening will be a special screening of the Oscar's 2016 Best Picture 'SPOTLIGHT' which tells the riveting true story of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Boston Globe investigation into clerical sexual abuse in the Catholic dioceses, and the decades-long cover-up at the highest levels of Boston's religious, legal, and government establishment.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Colm O Gorman Executive Director at Amnesty International Ireland, Alison O'Connor Columnist with The Irish Examiner, Tom Mooney Editor of The Wexford Echo and Kevin Cullen Columnist with the Boston Globe.
Some of the key Kennedy Summer School events will be live streamed to global audiences on http://www.ustream.tv/
