It is something of a measure of Mr Bruce Morrison's commitment to this island that he spent part of his Thanksgiving holiday addressing IBEC's recent human resources conference. But the former US senator's commitment to Ireland has never been in doubt. He was responsible for the Morrison visa scheme, which allowed thousands of Irish people to work legally in the United States; he also played a pivotal role in helping to bring about the second IRA ceasefire and has had an active part in the peace process since its inception.
While he says that the new political framework and institutions can only be good for business, he says that perhaps the business community in Northern Ireland could have done more to promote the peace process.
"One of the things that has been unfortunate is that the business community in Northern Ireland has historically divorced itself from politics, and I thought there were a number of times when Unionist business leaders could have been more help to David Trimble than they were. Only a very small number of them stood up and stood with him and said this Good Friday Agreement, with all its imperfections, is good for business," he says.
The political and business side of the process cannot be separated, according to Mr Morrison. "You need these things in tandem. There was a lot of attention paid to that. Certainly the US paid attention to that - there was an economic conference encouraging investment, there was the International Fund for Ireland and the EU put money in at the same time as the political work was being done, so it got both dimensions."
Before the peace process, Mr Morrison was better known in Ireland as the man behind the Morrison visa scheme. An expert on immigration policy, as chairman of the US immigration subcommittee, he led the passage of the Immigration Act of 1990, a comprehensive reform that included expanded admission of skilled workers. From 1991 to 1995, he was a partner in the law firm Morrison & Swaine, specialising in immigration and international trade and investment. He was also a member of the US Commission on Immigration Reform from 1992 to 1995.
Through his Morrison Public Affairs Group, he is hoping to bring some of this knowledge to all of the parties who are dealing with Ireland's quite recent immigration situation - a subject he addressed at the IBEC seminar.
The Republic has become a destination country for immigrants because of its successful economy and it is not a passing fad, according to Mr Morrison. Managing that immigration is a challenge for Government, employers and unions, he says.
"The first piece of advice is to remember that they are not just workers. There's a tendency to think of this in an economic way that confuses people with machine tools as if they are factors of production. You bring them in when you need them and you turn them on and off as you need them. People aren't like that," he says.
Government, business and unions have to decide whether immigrant workers are to be brought for short-term contracts on one-off projects or whether it is for longer-term ongoing employment, says Mr Morrison
The State has a chance to devise an immigration strategy that could avoid the mistakes made by others. "But the clock is ticking on getting these policies right," he warns.
Like the US economy, the Irish economy has suffered in recent times - although the US downturn has been more severe. But, says Mr Morrison, the US economy is fundamentally strong.
"If nothing horrendous happens in the next few months, I think we'll be back in a positive place," he says. "Whether Ireland is even going to have anything that would qualify as a recession is up for grabs. It may just be a slower growth rate."
Providing strategic business advice, particularly in the area of financial services where he has vast experience, is now as central to Morrison's public affairs group as providing advice on immigration.
He hopes to provide consultancy services to the European financial services sector, which he says will encounter many of the changes in coming years that US banks experienced in the past decade.
"As a financial services regulator in the US, I was particularly involved with mortgage finance and that is going to be a dramatically changing business in Europe over the next five years. As it integrates its financial services market, it's going to look a lot more like the US. In the US there has been tremendous consolidation of the providers of mortgage credit. Tremendous efficiencies have come to the business for the benefit of consumers," he says.
Despite his current hectic schedule, Mr Morrison says he still misses some aspects of political life. "Some days I miss being in office but right now my job interacts with the political process to an extent."
