Lonergan Farewell Ireland Consul General Michael Lonergan was feted by Boston's many Irish organizations June 14 at a reception at the Irish Cultural Center in Canton. (Photo by Ed Forry)

Updated- Ireland Consul General Michael Lonergan was feted by Boston’s many Irish organizations June 14 at a reception at the Irish Cultural Centre in Canton. Photo at left. Lonergan leaves in August for a new assignment in Dublin after a four- year term heading the consulate office here.
The popular consular official began his tenure in Boston in 2009, and his first official duty was to represent the Irish government at the funeral of Eunice Kennedy Shriver. “I felt as though I was barely off the plane and here, my first day on the job, I was sitting near Vice President Joe Biden and Oprah Winfrey at the funeral Mass of a woman whom I so admired and who was so admired in Ireland for the Special Olympics,” Lonergan told the BIR in an interview. Just weeks later, he was joined by then-Taoiseach Brian Cowen for the funeral of Sen. Ted Kennedy. Lonergan played a highly visible role throughout the region, and worked to establish Irish Network Boston (IN/Boston,) an Irish government-sponsored program to strengthen the economic, social, and cultural links between Ireland and the US. IN/Boston will host a “Bon Voyage” cruise for him in Boston on July 25 aboard the tall ship Liberty Clipper.