{"id":40479,"date":"2026-03-18T10:20:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T16:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=40479"},"modified":"2026-03-18T10:20:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T16:20:35","slug":"nebraska-ireland-commission-advanced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=40479","title":{"rendered":"Nebraska-Ireland Commission advanced"},"content":{"rendered":"

Creation of a commission intended to foster trade relations between Nebraska and Ireland cleared the first round of debate March 17.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. John Arch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

La Vista Sen. John Arch, sponsor of LB1087, said the proposal was brought to him by the speaker of the Irish Senate. Twenty-five states already have established such commissions, he said, which create networks and help partners find new ways to collaborate.<\/p>\n

The Republic of Ireland is the largest English-speaking country in the European Union, Arch said, and the commission would provide access to those markets for Nebraska businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe relationships developed through the commission will reveal and open up previously unidentified avenues for partnerships and possibilities of investment and global expansion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The new 10-member commission, to be housed within the state Department of Economic Development for administrative purposes, would be tasked with promoting and encouraging business and other mutually beneficial activities between Nebraska and Ireland, including:
\n\u2022 bilateral trade and investment;
\n\u2022 business and academic exchanges;
\n\u2022 mutual economic support;
\n\u2022 mutual investment in infrastructure; and
\n\u2022 joint action on policy issues.<\/p>\n

Membership would consist of one member of the Legislature from each of the state\u2019s three congressional districts, in addition to the heads of DED and the state Department of Agriculture or their designees.<\/p>\n

The following members would be appointed by the governor to two-year terms: a representative of a postsecondary institution, two members from the business community, one nonprofit representative and a member of the general public.<\/p>\n

Members would not be paid but could be reimbursed for expenses. The commission would report to the Legislature annually.<\/p>\n

The bill also would create the Nebraska-Ireland Commission Fund, which could receive grants and federal or state funds to help defray administrative costs. Arch said he had \u201cno intention\u201d to ever appropriate taxpayer dollars to it, but that a fund is needed to hold any grants, gifts or other money raised on behalf of the commission.<\/p>\n

Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha supported the proposal, saying the connection to Ireland is personal for many Nebraskans and that the partnership would be a natural one.<\/p>\n

\u201cIrish immigrants helped build communities across our state,\u201d she said. \u201cThey brought with them a commitment to hard work, to family and to taking care of their neighbors \u2014 values that still define Nebraskans today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ireland is a global leader in technology, life sciences and clean energy, Cavanaugh said, and Nebraska\u2019s growth in ag innovation, data infrastructure and advanced manufacturing could be amplified through \u201ctargeted collaborations\u201d developed through the commission.<\/p>\n

Following the 40-0 adoption of a technical amendment from the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, lawmakers advanced LB1087 to select file 41-0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Creation of a commission intended to foster trade relations between Nebraska and Ireland cleared the first round of debate March 17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40462,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[246],"class_list":["post-40479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government-military-and-veterans-affairs","tag-sen-john-arch"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/LB1087Arch3-17-26c.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40479"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40481,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40479\/revisions\/40481"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}