Obama for Ireland
On a quieter than normal St Patrick’s Day in Washington, local politicians competed for attention with Enda Kenny. Peter Cheney reviews the visit.
Dublin stole the limelight at this year’s American celebration of Irishness, as Enda Kenny graced the White House one week after his election as Taoiseach. St Patrick’s Day celebrations tended to have a northern tinge in the peace process years and in the current Assembly’s often-turbulent term.
However, Northern Ireland’s stability was a sideshow compared to a fresh Irish Government welcoming a presidential visit. Crises in Japan and Libya were also dominating the US news and policy agenda.
In warm tones, Obama said how he could not imagine “a better place to be than right here with the sons and daughters of Ireland, and those who wish they were” and recalled “just how many strands of green are woven into our American story.”
There was no better time for Enda Kenny to take office. A quip that “never has a single apostrophe meant so much to so many” went down well while, on a sombre note, he contrasted the Irish famine emigration “to freedom” with the African crossing “to slavery”. St Patrick “came to redeem the soul of a people” yet was himself a slave.
On 16 March, Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness received the customary greeting from Barack Obama in the Oval Office. Walking into the White House is now so common, William Hay has said, that Northern Ireland politicians take that for granted.
It was a brief break from the Assembly’s packed workload as dissolution approached and also provided some useful pre-election publicity. America also enjoys being linked to a successful peace process.
Obama reaffirmed his administration’s “ongoing commitment” to developing the local economy, Robinson said afterwards. McGuinness explained how they had updated the President on devolution’s progress and added: “It would be a tremendous boost if he was able to pay an official visit before the end of this term.”
That day began with both ministers attending a breakfast organised by Congressman Peter King, who is running hearings on the radicalisation of American Muslims; SDLP spokeswoman Claire Hanna condemned him as a “rabble- rousing bully and demagogue”.
Hillary Clinton greeted Robinson and McGuinness at the State Department on 18 March. They were bringing good news, Robinson told the gathered press: “Northern Ireland was completing the first four-year term of an Assembly, ever, for our power-sharing administration.” McGuinness complimented Clinton as “one of the best friends that the island of Ireland has ever seen”.
Against the hype, Owen Paterson said “people have a right to expect more” than Stormont’s survival: “Over the course of the next Assembly, the demands on politicians to deliver and make a real difference to people’s lives will increase.”
Northern Ireland was an “excellent location to do business”, benefitting from its transport connections, education results and Project Kelvin among others. Potential investors had to “watch this space closely” as the corporation tax paper was imminent.
Paterson also focused on the dissidents, “residual terrorists” in his words, who offered “absolutely nothing”. This was the Secretary of State’s first St Patrick’s Day in office but he regularly visited the USA in opposition.
17 March has swung between crises and milestones over the last six years. 2005 followed the Northern Bank robbery and the murder of Robert McCartney. The devolution deal was still up in the air in 2007 and Ian Paisley had just announced his departure in 2008. Patrick Azimkar, Mark Quinsey and Stephen Carroll were murdered in early March 2009. Last year’s trip came just after justice devolution was agreed.
This was a time for strategy, not just sentimentality. Kenny reminded his White House audience that Ireland was America’s gateway to Europe. He also had a 30-minute meeting with US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, discussing the Irish Government’s recovery and bank reform plans.
May should be a historic month for the Republic, with Obama and the Queen making their first arrivals. Northern Ireland is likely to miss out but has had more than its fair share of stops: three by Clinton and two by Bush. The South has hosted five serving presidents, starting with JFK’s homecoming in June 1963. George W Bush made the last visit, stopping at Shannon in February 2006.
