Ireland Names Honorary Consul for Tennessee Ahead of St. Patrick’s Day

The Consulate General of Ireland in Atlanta has announced its selection for a new diplomatic representative in Tennessee.

Based in Nashville, communications and marketing professional Amy Seigenthaler Pierce named the country’s new honorary consul in the state, one of five in the Southeast covered by the Atlanta consulate.

Ireland has been steadily enhancing its consular network in the U.S. in the decade-plus since it placed its first new diplomatic outpost in Atlanta 2012, the first new consulate opened in the U.S. in more than 70 years.

The country in 2014 opened a full consulate in Austin, Texas, and has appointed honorary consuls in the southern cities of Charleston, Charlotte, Houston and New Orleans.

A solicitation for applicants for the Tennessee posting went out last year, seeking a local with a strong network and a deep connection to Ireland.

Ms. Pierce seems to tick both boxes as an Irish-American who served under former U.S. Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith in the U.S. Embassy in Dublin for five years in the late 1990s.

She’s now managing partner of FINN Partners, a marketing and communications consultancy; she’ll retain the role as she assumes the duties of honorary consul.

Caoimhe Ní Chonchúir, Ireland’s consul general in Atlanta, said Ms. Pierce’s appointment is a “huge step forward” for Ireland’s Tennessee ties.

Already, the consulate estimates, about 10 percent of Tennesseans trace their lineage to Ireland, and Irish investment and trade links support some 8,000 jobs in the state.

“Having Amy on the ground will help to support our wonderful Irish communities in the state and strengthen our flourishing economic ties. It is a statement of our commitment to the Ireland-Tennessee partnership,” Ms. Ní Chonchúir said in a statement.

The announcement comes after the Irish consulate has hosted multiple inbound cabinet-level ministers over the last year, showing a deepening interest in the Southeast region at the highest levels of the Irish government.

That trend continues this week as Minister Peter Burke T.D., minister of state for European affairs and defense, is in town for meetings and events including a St. Patrick’s Day reception, which will be followed Saturday by the 140th annual parade in Midtown this Saturday, headlined by retired footballer Niall Quinn and hosted in partnership with Irish Network Atlanta.

Ms. Pierce said in a statement that she was grateful to be selected as honorary consul.

“The decision to establish an honorary consulate in Tennessee underscores Ireland’s appreciation for the links that have long existed between our two great cultures and their potential to grow. I look forward to working with those who love Ireland in our state to celebrate and strengthen the ties we have in common.”