‘America has been great to me but I see the world through my Irish eyes’

Elaine Brennan was one of the lucky recipients of a Morrison visa that enabled her to embark on a career in the US in 1994. The Ennis-born life science graduate feels she has benefited enormously from that privilege, so when the opportunity came to thank the man who paved an early path for her, she didn’t hesitate.

Brennan, who holds a senior position at Northwell Health, the largest private employer in the state of New York , was at a dinner in the city three years ago hosted by the consul general which included a select group of Irish-born business figures, as well as the Taoiseach.

“I asked every one of these people around the table how they had come to America. The overwhelming response was that it was through the Morrison visa. Something clicked in me and I wondered was there any way we could thank him,” she says.