Peter Kelly sees St Patrick’s season fast approaching as trans-Atlantic opportunities return
It’s that time of year again. Passing the St Valentine’s marker in mid-February prepares for the anticipated marker of St Patrick in mid-March. The trans-Atlantic calendar is foremost in Irish, American and Irish-American minds. Plans for the coveted exodus for Ireland’s worldwide day are currently in full swing.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris are among 38 of Ireland’s representatives set to visit more than 90 cities in 40 countries for the annual cultural-economic-jamboree taking place globally on March 17th.
Yet for the second time, Sinn Féin are boycotting the global political nucleus of the White House during next month’s St Patrick’s week.
For it has become just that – more than a mere day – as Ireland’s leaders, island-wide, depart domestic shores and traditionally bask week-long in unprecedented access and opportunity with the diaspora and influence abroad.
This successive year, such rare and envy-producing access has again been spurned by Irish Republicans, in a continued protest against conditions and ongoing strife in the Gaza, notwithstanding talks about a sustainable ceasefire.
Party leader Mary Lou McDonald said pressure should be exerted to ensure that peace and norms are adhered to in efforts to forge conflict resolution in the Middle East: “We’re calling on [Micheál Martin] to use that opportunity effectively and to bring a clear and strong message from Ireland on the occasion of St Patrick’s Day that we want international law respected.”
Noble sentiments, for sure. But equally sure is the higher chance of influence and persuasion if these sentiments were presented in person by both Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O’Neill themselves? Isn’t politics the art of persuasion? Of dialogue and reason? Of making a case in the court of public opinion and political personnel to help shape eventual political opinion, and thus policy?
Last year the American president sat beside Micheál Martin in the Oval Office and was asked pointedly by a Northern Irish TV reporter about the Irish Republican boycott. He replied candidly that he wasn’t even aware of it, then moved on to another topic. It epitomized the fallacy of the non-engagement and snub. All the previous fanfare and it didn’t even show up on the radar at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
More important still is the necessary and fruitful engagement with the widespread political fraternity, who retain an habitual pro-Irish stance. Not to mention the all-encompassing Irish diaspora in green-tinged cultural epicenters from New York to Boston to Chicago. Not pushing against those open doors is undoubtedly a colossal wasted opportunity, especially for a party which prides itself on engagement and has Irish-America sewn into its historical DNA, in whichever way you interpret.
Tellingly, the trans-Atlantic mutually beneficial economic relationship is reportedly valued at over €1 trillion Euros per annum.
In accepting the formal invite from the White House this week, Martin revealed that “the President also pays tribute to the Irish-American community, who have made such an enormous contribution to the United States. He believes this is an opportunity to celebrate the special relationship between our two countries.
“Ireland’s relationship with the United States is as old as their republic and it was a vital one in the foundation of ours. It is a relationship which has been strengthened through a shared commitment to engagement and understanding,” he added.
We’re well past the halcyon days of the late 1990s peace process when the Oval Office had a hotline to shaping the Emerald Isle’s conflict resolution and fortunes. We may also now be far beyond the exceptional Irish-Americanism of US presidents. But although we are in a new global era of international relationships with ever-increasing uncertainties, one still provides relief and grateful predictability.
Keeping a foot in the door of exceptional camaraderie, access and partnership between Ireland and US, means the door will remain open rather than shut for good. Naysayers take note.