‘Go to it!’ urges Rev Clinton in rallying sermon on Ireland

There’s an expression in the great state of Arkansas that warns against the futility of “preaching to the saved”, former US president Bill Clinton told guests at a Global Irish Network event in New York yesterday.

He was wondering aloud if he was surplus to requirements: “You have a coalition government working across party lines to get things done.”

Sitting on the stage to his left, the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, and the Tánaiste, Eamon Gilmore, took their cue and shook hands energetically, backing up the blind faith of their prestigious speaker as the lunch guests in the NYU Kimmel Center chuckled along. Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton, on the far side of the Tánaiste, smiled wryly.

Of course, nobody has ever been caught short in the deep south when it comes to a podium and a bit of preaching. Clinton, without notes, delivered a typically robust pitch on behalf of Ireland, encouraging almost 100 business leaders to consider Ireland as an investment opportunity. If they hadn’t seen the light, it was time to convert. And the timing couldn’t be better, he insisted over and over.

“There is an educated workforce all dressed up with nowhere to go,” he said.

“This is an enormous time of promise,” he said, emphasising Ireland’s young labour market

“Ireland is the only country in Europe with a sophisticated economy that has an average age in its workforce younger than America.

Then he was back to the religious jargon. The Taoiseach, according to Clinton, had “positively rhapsodised” the potential of Ireland’s young people. But, he added, somebody has to step up to accelerate the jobs market.

“It would be nuts not to take advantage of this unique opportunity,” Clinton said before concluding emphatically: “Go to it!”

It was a blunt end to a rousing sermon but if he thought he was getting away quickly, he was wrong. The saved and the converted all flocked around him as the Taoiseach tried his hand at the secret service role, attempting to usher out the guest of honour. But, as is Clinton’s way, nobody would be left out of his ever-magnetic glow — admittedly a little frailer than when he was at his pomp — and he had a minute for everyone.