Northern Ireland and St Patrick’s week
Ministers could choose from a stock of good stories about Northern Ireland in St Patrick’s week, but travelled without media scrutiny. Peter Cheney assesses this year’s visit and the way ahead for the province’s US links.
March 2012 was very much Ireland’s moment in Washington, with Barack Obama highlighting his Moneygall roots and Hillary Clinton keeping up her personal interest. Vice-President Joe Biden could point back to his County Londonderry ancestors.
Northern Ireland could take pride in a host of achievements e.g. Rory McIlroy winning the US Open, Terry George’s Oscar and Game of Thrones (mainly filmed in Belfast). The First and deputy First Ministers looked forward to Derry’s City of Culture and the opening of Titanic Belfast, the Metropolitan Arts Centre, and the Giant’s Causeway visitors’ centre.
The Irish Government took the opportunity to claim credit for tentative economic recovery, one year into office. Exports are indeed “thriving” as Enda Kenny said, with external sales of goods worth a record €92.9 billion in 2011. Northern Ireland’s external sales totalled £12.4 billion in 2010-2011 but, pro rata with the Republic’s population, should equal £30.8 billion (€37.2 billion).
That said, the full picture includes a sluggish domestic economy with relatively high unemployment on both parts of the island: 14.3 per cent in the South, 7.2 per cent in the North.
“So, it’s normal foreign politics and boring is good for Northern Ireland,” Peter Robinson said after meeting Hillary Clinton. America was “incredibly supportive” in bringing jobs, Martin McGuinness added.
Unlike previous visits, no local journalists were present and the trip was relayed instead by the OFMDFM press office. Hence Northern Ireland being “synonymous with good news” with “heightened … attractiveness to the curious international traveller” and the two ministers pressing “all of the heritage buttons” to turn “lookers” into “bookers”.
However, when pressed on the substance of their discussions with President Obama and Secretary Clinton, OFMDFM refused to comment as these were “private” meetings.
Robinson and McGuinness also met Irish-American Congressmen Peter King and Richard Neal. King refused to retract his support for the IRA when challenged by MPs at Westminster last year. agendaNi asked the DUP for the purpose of Robinson’s meeting with King but the party declined to respond.
At the British embassy, Owen Paterson again pointed out that a public sector-dominated economy was unsustainable. He noted the “overwhelmingly positive response” to the Treasury’s consultation on devolving corporation tax and expected the working group to finish up this summer.
In a frank assessment, Paterson highlighted the need to regenerate “areas where there is generational worklessness and where paramilitaries, on both sides, continue to prey and recruit.” Sectarian divisions “help to sustain terrorism and other criminal activities, particularly within deprived communities.”
David Ford, Danny Kennedy, Tom Elliott, Alasdair McDonnell and Alex Attwood also joined the Washington delegation. Indeed, McDonnell invited Vice-President Biden to visit the province.
This is an exceptional opportunity to state Northern Ireland’s economic case, as the Irish Government has been doing for the Republic since the days of JFK.
Access
Diplomats from other small countries look on with envy at Ireland’s access. In population terms, Northern Ireland is closest to the Gambia (a tiny west African state), while the Republic ranks just above the Central African Republic. Yet the Taoiseach, First Minister and deputy First Minister have the same level of access as the British and Israeli prime ministers.
That cannot be taken for granted.
The Canadian stops (at Montreal and Toronto) were a natural follow-on from the US schedule, given their proximity and Bombardier’s importance as an inward investor.
OFMDFM has confirmed that it has no plans for a more extensive round of visits, claiming that economic pressures would prevent this. Irish Government ministers, though, took their investment message to 15 countries, as far as China, Australia and New Zealand, and visited both coasts of the States. With 17 ministers, junior ministers and Executive party leaders, Stormont has the numbers for a similar schedule.
The post of US Economic Envoy has remained vacant since Declan Kelly’s resignation (to continue his business career) in May 2011. The State Department has “no current plans” to fill the post, a personal appointment by Hillary Clinton to “ramp up” progress on business links.
St Patrick’s visits will continue, by tradition, but the warmth of high-level support could cool very quickly. A European recovery will help Obama’s re-election chances but the President’s political objective is American jobs for American workers. US unemployment in March stood at 8.2 per cent: 12.7 million people.
Consider his state of the union in January: “Tonight, my message to business leaders is simple. Ask yourselves what you can do to bring jobs back to your country, and your country will do everything we can to help you succeed.”
The Executive will, of course, need to anticipate an electoral upset. Republican candidate Mitt Romney is pro-business but has no distinguishable Irish ancestry. His Italian-American potential running mate, Rick Santorum, apparently has some Irish blood on his mother’s side. As Northern Ireland falls down the foreign policy priority list, it will need to make the most of its connections to stay on the US political radar.
