Jeremy Siegel: This is GBH's Morning Edition. Diplomats and leaders from Ireland are traveling across the U.S. this week, including Boston, to celebrate ties between the two countries ahead of Saint Patrick's Day. Among them is Leo Clancy, the head of Enterprise Ireland, who was very diplomatic when I asked him if Boston is the best Saint Patrick's city in the U.S.

Leo Clancy: Oh gosh, you're asking me a really hard one. There's a lot of potential for future career levitation from the answer to that question. So we'd never — we don't play favorites.

Siegel: Clancy leads the state agency that helps Irish companies to start and grow in international markets like Boston. And he told me about new investments Ireland is making in the region.

Clancy: Boston's a really exciting area for our companies, as is all the United States. Ireland's got a long history with the U.S. I think it has a special place in the hearts of the people in Boston, we'd like to think so. In Boston, we have a company, Output Sports, which is a large sports technology company that is announcing that they're building out their growth team with some new hires. So, they have seen Boston as a great opportunity. And yesterday, we were privileged to have our prime minister, the Taoiseach, in Fenway Park, cementing that sports as well as tech and investment relationship.

Siegel: While we're discussing the ties between Massachusetts and Ireland, I wanted to ask about some of the similarities between cities like Boston and Dublin. Both have seen a boom in investment in things like tech and biotech. Ireland, particularly over the last decade, seeing a big bump in startups. But at the same time affordability has decreased. Both Boston and Dublin are struggling with skyrocketing housing prices. Is this kind of growth sustainable in your opinion?

Clancy: Yeah, I think the reasons for the increased costs where they occur, and I think similar reasons in Ireland to Boston is, prosperity and that the economy is doing well. There are people moving in for jobs and companies are growing. So first of all, I think were both very fortunate to be from places that are doing well. You know, I think, it is sustainable. I, I'm not sure about the detail in Boston, but, you know, in Ireland, we certainly applied pressure on housing that's been exacerbated by what's been a huge influx of refugees in the last couple of years who were glad to make homes in Ireland. So those are some of the factors that underlie it. But then in parallel, we have government policy, which is founded on helping cope with growth. So we've got a national development plan, which is a decade-plus long plan for investments in the Irish economy. We've also got a plan for housing. So there's a national action plan on housing, which is seeing housing starts and completions grow year on year over the past couple of years and sees a lot of public money going in both to social housing and into subvention of people buying the first home from new development. I don't think I'd ever say it was simple, but actually having a plan is, to me, a good validation of where we're headed in the future.

Siegel: You discussed the arrival of refugees. This is not at all the same, but Massachusetts has been struggling to accommodate the arrival of migrants in the region. I already mentioned some of the similar concerns surrounding business and affordability. What can we learn from each other?

Clancy: I wouldn't presume to give advice. I think the advice I would give to any jurisdiction, though, is policy certainty and focus on infrastructure and focus on the ones that make people's lives better. And also to be patient. You know, those things don't come immediately. They come with time. And we're finding that in Ireland, we have a housing industry that's had more or less collapsed by 2010, and it's being rebuilt now in a significant way.

Siegel: Leo Clancy is CEO of Enterprise Ireland. Thank you so much for joining me.

Clancy: Thank you Jeremy. It's been my pleasure, and happy St. Patrick's Day.

Siegel: You're listening to GBH News.

In the lead up to St. Patrick’s Day, Irish leaders and diplomats are traveling to cities across the U.S., including Boston, to celebrate ties between the two countries.

Among them is Leo Clancy, head of the state agency Enterprise Ireland, who gave GBH’s Morning Edition quite the diplomatic response when asked if Boston is the best St. Patrick’s Day city in the country.

“There’s a lot of potential for future career limitation from the answer to that question,” he said. “We don’t play favorites.”

Clancy said that while Ireland doesn't play favorites, it is making significant investments in Greater Boston’s economy, including an announcement this week that two Irish companies — Climeaction, a climate action solutions provider, and Output Sports, a sports technology company — are expanding their operations in the city.

“Boston's a really exciting area for our companies, as is all the United States,” he said. “Ireland's got a long history with the U.S. I think it has a special place in the hearts of the people in Boston, we'd like to think so.”

Both Boston and Dublin have seen investment booms, especially in areas like technology and biotech. At the same time, affordability has decreased, and both cities are struggling with skyrocketing housing prices.

“I think we're both very fortunate to be from places that are doing well,” Clancy said. “I think it is sustainable. I'm not sure about the detail in Boston, but in Ireland, we certainly applied pressure on housing that's been exacerbated by what's been a huge influx of refugees in the last couple of years who were glad to make homes in Ireland.”

The Irish government is taking significant steps to address housing affordability, he said.

“There's a national action plan on housing, which is seeing housing starts and completions grow year on year over the past couple of years and sees a lot of public money going in both to social housing and into subvention of people buying the first home from new development,” he said. “I don't think I'd ever say it was simple, but actually having a plan is, to me, a good validation of where we're headed in the future.

Clancy said he did not want to give Massachusetts prescriptive advice on addressing its own affordability problems or finding space for new migrants arriving here.

“I think the advice I would give to any jurisdiction, though, is policy certainty and focus on infrastructure and focus on the ones that make people's lives better," he said. “And also to be patient. You know, those things don't come immediately. They come with time. And we're finding that in Ireland, we have a housing industry that's had more or less collapsed by 2010, and it's being rebuilt now in a significant way.”