Jean McDonald: Ambassador of Ireland to Luxembourg, 28/12/2023

RTL Today - The Lisa Burke Show

Bringing the magic of Skerries to Luxembourg!
Jean McDonald, Ambassador of Ireland to Luxembourg, arrived here at the end of August along with her husband Greg. The two met in Paris and have lived in Dublin and Geneva where Ambassador McDonald was Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN for Ireland.
Since arriving in Luxembourg, Ambassador McDonald has been carried on a wave of Irish Community events, plus integrating into Luxembourg more generally.
The vibrant Irish community here reminds her of her hometown of Skerries. This town, north of County Dublin, recently made headlines due to English anthropologist Daniel Miller, who spent almost a year and a half living there concluding “It is hard to find another currently existing society that is demonstrably better.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/02/has-irish-town-found-secret-the-good-life-skerries
Ambassador McDonald sees the similarities with Luxembourg:
“A sense of people proud of where they are from and giving back”.
Indeed, we go on to talk about the Irish spirit of volunteering.
Coincidentally, Ambassador McDonald was studying at Trinity College Dublin when Ambassador Ensch was also there, and she is now the Ambassador for Luxembourg in Ireland!
Ambassador McDonald’s life as a diplomat is thanks to her father (RIP) who cut out an article in the Irish Times for recruitment to the department of Foreign Affairs. We talk about what advice she has for those who may want to follow this path in life. Ambassador Jean suggests you find people you'd like to emulate.
“Those who seems the most effortless - they’ve done the most homework”
If you want to discover more links between Ireland and Luxembourg, you can read about St. Willibrord.
https://carlowcathedral.ie/our-parish/st-willibrord/
Ambassador McDonald also visited the University of Luxembourg which now has a Vacataire Lecturer in Irish Literature, Dr James Gallacher, which he developed
No doubt in her tenure as Ambassador to Luxembourg, she will spread some Skerries magic amongst us.
This interview was recorded at the start of December.
Unfortunately due to a technical glitch the video format (on RTL Play) cuts off at 25 mins. You can listen to the full interview on Today Radio Saturday at 11am, Sunday at noon and Tuesday at 10am; or on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
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