TRUMP’S NEW AMBASSADOR TO IRELAND PROUD OF HIS KERRY ROOTS
TRUMP CONFIRMS SNEEM DESCENDANT FOR AMBASSADOR TO IRELAND ROLE
US PRESIDENT Elect Donald Trump’s new man in Ireland is already planning an official visit to his ancestral home of Sneem, relatives in the south Kerry parish confirmed to The Kerryman this week. Brian P Burns ( pictured right), whose grandfather John Burns emigrated from Sneem in the 1870s, is set to become the new US Ambassador to Ireland, as confirmed by Trump to The New York Times last Friday.
The businessman and philanthropist (80) comes to the role as one of the greatest Irish-American benefactors of this country over the years through his work with the Ireland Fund; as the leading fundraiser behind the restoration of the world famous Marsh Library in Dublin and the founder of the American Law Library in UCC. Brian Burns is fiercely proud of his Sneem roots, making significant contributions to the parish since his first visit in 1981.
Relative Batt Burns spoke with him by phone as recently as Christmas Day. “The invitation to Sneem is on the cards already, in fact it came from him as he was keen that there would be a celebration of some form in the parish,” Batt Burns told The Kerryman this week, expressing Sneem’s delight at the pending appointment.
DONALD Trump’s close friend and supporter Brian Burns is already making plans for an official visit to his ancestral home of Sneem in one of his first major duties as US Ambassador to Ireland.
The 80-year-old businessman, attorney and philanthropist spoke as recently as Christmas Day of his desire to visit the parish – in the course of a phone call to Batt Burns, one of his many relatives there.
He can expect the royal treatment when he makes that visit, with Sneem overjoyed at the looming appointment of a man so close to its heart.
Trump confirmed the choice of Irish ambassador to the New York Times last week, with the position to be formally announced in the coming weeks.
Mr Burns has long been a key ally of Trump’s, helping his campaign for President from its inception and, with his wife Eileen, spending Thanksgiving and Christmas with the real estate mogul and family at their gilded Florida retreat of Mar-a-Lago.
That sprawling mansion is a world away from his grandfather John Burns’s humble origins four miles west of Sneem in an area where the townlands of Gleesk and Dereendrislaugh meet.
“The first time I met Brian was when he pulled into Sneem in his limo in 1981 while tracing his roots,” relative Batt Burns told The Kerryman this week.
“He made me off and we traversed the parish, visiting the parish priest and exploring the ancestry together.”
“We’ve maintained a great friendship since and he rang me on Christmas Day... the invitation to Sneem is on the cards already, in fact it came from him as he was keen that there would be a celebration of some form in the parish.”
The clan name is among Sneem’s most prominent ones: “All the Burns here are of the same stock with four families or so still living in the area of Gleesk where Brian’s grandfather John Burns was from. He emigrated to Boston sometime around the 1870s and worked hard like any other immigrant to get on in the US.”
His work ethic was to lay the foundations for a classic American dream tale as eldest son John - Brian Burn’s father - qualified as an attorney, going on to become a key personal advisor to JFK’s father Joe Kennedy.
But the Irish tale of hardship and leavetaking remains as important to this ancestral son. “Brian is fiercely proud of his roots and has been a tremendous benefactor to this parish over the years. He played a contributory role in our national Tidy Towns’ success in 1987, funded the heating of our church in the 1980s, also making a significant contribution to the church in more recent years. And he supported Sneem Knitwear at a time when it was struggling.”
Burns’ also funded the major renovations of Marsh’s Library in Dublin; the Law Library in UCC which is now named after his father and he was one of the leading philanthropists behind the Ireland fund.
“I would think Brian would make a great ambassador. He is a very genuine person, not brash in any way but quiet and unassuming and a great champion of Irish arts and culture, with one of the largest private collections of Irish art including works by Jack Yeats and Roderic O’Connor,” Batt said.