Interview: US ambassador Kevin O’Malley proves forthright and fun

US Ambassador to Ireland Kevin O’Malley had to give up his Irish passport to take up the role of a diplomat. But, as he recounts to Dan Buckley, that doesn’t make him feel any less Irish.

WHEN Kevin O’Malley’s grandparents left Ireland in the early years of the last century, their pockets were empty but they had hope in their hearts, courage galore, and a shared vision for the future.

They would need it all as they trundled their seven children onto a boat in Cobh — then Queenstown — in 1907 and set sail for a new life in America.