Capital Gazette: Cohen Plans Official Ireland Trip

Annapolis Mayor Josh Cohen will travel to Ireland next month on an economic development visit to Annapolis' sister city.

The Capital Gazette reports Cohen will leave with a "small delegation" to Wexford on June 16, returning on June 26. The Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Conference and Visitors Bureau is picking up the tab for Cohen's airfare, along with that of the organization's chairman Anthony Clarke and CEO Connie Del Signore, according to the report. The total for airfare is $5,000.

The city of Wexford will provide lodging for the trip. Cohen will also be visiting relatives on the trip, according to the report. In 2007, then-Mayor Ellen Moyer paid for her own travel on a one-month tour of Annapolis' European sister cities, including Wexford, according to a Baltimore Sun report at the time. Moyer wrote about the visit to Wexford on her blog.

Cohen's itinerary includes a 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's visit to Ireland. Gov. Martin O'Malley, traveling separately on an economic development trip, will also attend that event, with his costs covered by Department of Business and Economic Development, according to the report.

Wexford Mayor Jim Allen invited Cohen to visit when he came to Annapolis in March, according to the report.

“My first instinct was this was nothing that I need to focus on right now,” Cohen told the paper. “[Business leaders] saw this as having a potential benefit to the local economy. Then, I was more receptive to going. But only if no city dollars would be spent on it and it could benefit the business community.”