He speaks for the Irish

Jenny Marder

On St. Patrick’s Day, everybody’s Irish.

Finbar Hill, the Irish honorary consul for Orange and Los Angeles

counties, jokes that the number of people who claim Irish heritage

jumps from 40 million to 200 million every March 17.

The days leading up to the holiday are busy for the Huntington

Beach resident and leader of the area’s Irish community.

Hill began St. Patrick’s Day with an address to the Los Angeles

City Council, then took part in the city’s St. Patrick’s Day parade.

Late afternoon was spent with the Irish-American Bar Assn. and at

meetings. Hill ended the night as honorary speaker at the Friendly

Sons of St. Patrick Dinner at the Beverly Hilton hotel.

Hill is always amazed at the turnout for St. Patrick’s Day events

such as the parade, which draws about 25,000 annually, said Emily

Gutierrez, management analyst for the Los Angeles City Fire

Department, which coordinates the parade.

“It shows a tremendous amount of goodwill to Ireland,” Hill said.

Formerly the chief executive of Power Corp., an Irish-based

development firm with offices in Beverly Hills, Hill was appointed

consul in 2001, an honor traditionally reserved for career

politicians.

“I love it,” he said of the job. “It’s a very special honor to be

asked by your government to represent your country.”

His job is multifaceted. It is his duty to be there for Irish folk

who get into any kind of trouble in America. He is a source of help

for those who have lost a passport or overstayed a visa. He assists

with arrests and deaths.

“It’s an interesting job,” he said. “It comes in waves.”

He is also in charge of setting up visits with Irish dignitaries

coming to America. But above and beyond all else, his duty is to

promote Ireland, to be the face of Irish pride for the roughly

100,000 Irish-born people in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

“Finbar is the most wonderful ambassador for Ireland,” said Cormac

O’Modhrain, general manager of the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach

Resort & Spa, who has worked Finbar on several local and L.A.-based

events. “He embodies the charm and just the friendliness of the Irish

people. A more jovial and friendly individual you’ll find hard to

meet.”

And his wife makes the most phenomenal Irish soda bread,

O’Modhrain added.

O’Modhrain was born in Kildare County and moved to America for

work in 1991. He thinks everybody secretly wishes they were part of

an Irish community.

“It’s funny how St. Patrick’s Day brings so many people back to

their Irish roots even if they don’t have them,” he said.

Hill was born and raised in Cork, a county of rich farmlands,

lush, green river valleys and a rocky Atlantic coastline at Ireland’s

southern tip.

“Cork people are very self-confident,” Hill said. “They’ll tell

you that there are only two kinds of Irish people: those from Cork

and those who want to be from Cork.”

Hill moved to Beverly Hills in 1989 to set up an office base for

his company there. In 1998, his son, Michael, urged him to move to

Huntington Beach, where he lived.

“I looked at a number of places, and I enjoyed the place,” Hill

said. “I thought it had a good city management, a good police

department, a low crime rate, all things as you kind of get older you

want to be easily pleased about and comfortable with, they’re all

there: shopping, nice people and a lovely climate. All the reasons

that make Huntington Beach so wonderful for so many people.”

While Hill makes it back to Ireland about twice a year to visit a

97-year-old mother-in-law and other friends and family, he sees his

future in Huntington Beach. He has two sons and two daughters in the

area, as well as two grandchildren and another on the way.

“I have a couple of grandchildren here now,” Hill said. “They’re

going to demand my presence.”