News story

Paterson thanks Declan Kelly for investment work

The Secretary of State Owen Paterson has praised the "tireless dedication" of Declan Kelly, the US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland.

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

The Secretary of State Owen Paterson has praised the “tireless dedication” of Declan Kelly, the US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland who has announced that he is standing down from the post.

Secretary of State Owen Paterson and Declan Kelly at a recent meeting in Belfast.

Mr Paterson said:

When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed Declan Kelly to be the Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland she gave us a businessman with a track record of high achievement.

His drive and commitment in the cause of bringing inward investment to Northern Ireland has been inspirational and we all owe him a huge debt of gratitude for his work.

He opened doors that have presented great opportunities for Northern Ireland to showcase itself as a place to do business and his high quality advocacy has made a real difference in terms of attracting high quality businesses.

It is up to us all to build on those foundations.

I wish Declan well in the future and he leaves his role with sincere thanks for a job well done.

Published 11 May 2011