US to ratify ambassador to Ireland
The appointment of Edward Crawford as the next US Ambassador to Ireland took a step closer yesterday after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to approve his nomination.
Yesterday’s Committee vote paves the way for Mr Crawford’s nomination to be presented for a full Senate vote.
The 80-year-old Republican from Cleveland, Ohio is the former CEO of Park-Ohio Holdings, and is the son of Irish immigrants from Cork, with his mother’s roots traced to Boherbue.
The Republican was the finance chairman for the Republican National Committee’s Ohio campaign during President Donald Trump’s successful 2016 presidential bid.
“Mr Crawford’s engaging leadership, insights, and knowledge of manufacturing and technology make him well qualified to serve as Ambassador to Ireland,” a report for the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Activities on Mr Crawford’s nomination read.
Prior to his appointment as Park-Ohio Holdings CEO in 1992, Mr Crawford was president of Crawford Container Company in Conneaut, Ohio (1974-1985), vice president of operations of Clarke Can Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1971-1974) and president and CEO of Cleveland Steel Container in Cleveland, Ohio (1962-1971).
He was also a member of the USO World Board of Governors (2007-2010).
In 2014 he became the first person without Mayo roots to be named the Mayo Society of Greater Cleveland’s Person of the Year in recognition of his achievements there.
There has been a vacancy in the US ambassador position in Ireland since Kevin O’Malley, an appointee of Barack Obama, left the post following Mr Trump’s inauguration.
