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St Patrick’s Day is a golden opportunity to retell Irish story to the whole world

Editorial

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar presents a bowl of shamrock to then president Donald Trump in the White House in March 2019. Photo: Getty

March 17 2023 02:30 AM

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is due in the White House today to meet Joe Biden, the most Irish-American US president since John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The fraternal presentation of shamrock is a St Patrick’s Day tradition that began falteringly in the early 1950s at a time when this country was still suffering image problems arising from misunderstandings over our neutrality during World War II.

Diplomatic persistence now provides Ireland’s leaders with very useful access to the US president and the decision-making processes in Washington more generally. This is far more than a soft-focus photo opportunity.

For a small country with little geopolitical power it is an invaluable – and now apparently immutable – date in the taoiseach’s calendar. This year the occasion is all the more significant for Mr Biden’s strong familial links to this country and his unabashed personal attachment to all things Irish.

It also symbolises wider Irish political influence marked by other events such as the Capitol Hill lunch. The discussions between Mr Varadkar and Mr Biden will range from concerns about Northern Ireland after Brexit – now in a much better state than a year ago – to Irish immigrant visas and, inevitably, Ukraine.

There will be happier talk and excitement about Mr Biden’s visit to Ireland next month. The Irish-US relationship remains strong, despite occasional concerns that Dublin’s influence may be waning in the States.

Immigration has in recent years become more politically sensitive and divisive in the US.

Advancing the special case for Irish visas remains more difficult. Yet there is scope for progress based on reciprocal access for US citizens keen to come to Ireland.

Our influence in Washington was most evident through the hard slog of post-Brexit times and the mendacious behaviour of former UK prime minister Boris Johnson.

President Biden and other key figures in the US Congress were steadfast in their solidarity with Dublin and at all times stressed the importance of keeping the 1998 Good Friday Agreement on track.

Diplomatic efforts since the 1970s – led by people like the late, great John Hume – to recruit Washington’s support in the quest for peace in the North have delivered stellar results. The US has been a valued partner in efforts to secure peace.

Many senior US politicians have a justified sense of ownership of the Good Friday Agreement, which they helped create and sustain.

People like Irish-American Congressman Richard Neal argue the peace deal remains a major US foreign policy achievement.

Many in both the Republican and Democratic parties in the US want to see the agreement survive and flourish. However, the only constant is change, and Irish-America is no exception.

There have been profound social and cultural shifts in the make-up of Irish-America, bringing the eclipse of the great Irish political machines and decline of solid voting blocks. We have seen some of the great heavyweights leave the political stage.

We badly need a diplomatic outreach to Republicans and more work at the level of individual states. Today offers huge opportunities for modern Ireland to retell its story – let us grab them.

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St Patrick’s Day is a golden opportunity to retell Irish story to the whole world

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