From shamrocks to Shock and Awe: my trip to the White House |
SOME aspects of the annual St Patrick’s Day celebrations in Washington can be open to parody, but there were developments during last week’s events which plainly merited serious discussion.
The big winner, as most commentators have agreed, was Micheál Martin, who had the rare achievement of outmanoeuvring Donald Trump in a setting where all the arrangements are designed to prevent even the mildest dissent over MAGA philosophy.
Although there was a strong case to be made on a range of fronts for Martin avoiding any engagement with Trump, on balance the taoiseach just about had a responsibility to represent Ireland’s interests, and he did so with quiet but unmistakeable confidence, even if he avoided making any reference to the prospect of what we must now presumably describe as an Irish merger referendum.
I can offer some limited insights into the risks and opportunities Martin faced, as, like many other people from Ireland, north and south, I once made the same trip to celebrate the legacy of our patron saint at the White House
Cormac Moore: Is it time for Ireland’s football teams to join together?
Róisín Lanigan: To be Irish in England today is to be the punchline of an unfunny joke
It was March 2003, and the incumbent was George W Bush, whose reputation was decidedly mixed at the time and declined sharply soon afterwards, but who is now regarded by some as almost a benign figure in comparison to Trump.
Bill Clinton,........