WE BROUGHT OUT CHIVALRY OFTHE DONALD

IT was the meeting of the Orange and the Green. And remarkably, it passed off well enough. The Donald was not in snapping crocodile mode. The Taoiseach and the Trump collided gently. The president of the United States, however, broke with tradition by wearing a blue tie, not the essential emerald attire.

And he decided to hold his press encounter before his meeting with the Taoiseach, not afterwards, as was the case with President Obama.

Enemies of the people – as the President has dubbed journalists – were thus propelled straight into the Oval Office, barrelling in upon staffers, Secret Service, high officeholders, an ambassador, the Irish delegation, Enda Kenny and the most powerful man in the world.

A rushing TV camera whacked into the back of the head of online reporter Christina Finn of TheJournal.ie, who toppled towards a sofa, alarming the president – who immediately showed an unexpected chivalry.

‘Guys, don’t hurt these people,’ he said, adding: ‘You can hurt these guys’ – as he swept a hand towards Vice President Mike Pence and others – ‘but these guys are visitors.’

The cameras flashed and popped, the president looking straight ahead, slightly hunched, as if in renewed bulldog mode, while the Taoiseach gazed toward him admiringly. Unlike with Obama, there were no introductory remarks or contributions.

At the back of the room, chief strategist Steve Bannon stood immobile, surveying the scene. Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, reached out and steadied Press Association photographer Niall Carson as he, too, threatened to collapse backwards. Trump likes chaos.

Someone asked if he was going to come to Ireland.

The president spoke mechanically, and was in no way misty-eyed. ‘I love Ireland,’ he said. ‘I really love Ireland. I’ll be there, absolutely.’

He didn’t shrug his shoulders, but he conveyed the distinct sense that it was not top of his agenda.

Thankfully, he spoke more freely at the Speaker’s Lunch. His relationship with Speaker Paul Ryan has been restored somewhat after the trough when Ryan cancelled a Wisconsin rally appearance with him, only for Trump to retaliate by withholding his endorsement of Ryan.

Both men made it in their respective contests, however, and fences have been mended.

The Speaker tried out his ‘céad míle fáilte’ and everyone relaxed.

The luncheon was in the wood-panelled Rayburn Room, and Trump was soon at the bully pulpit, under a portrait of George Washington. ‘The Taoiseach is my new friend,’ the president said, reaching over for a handshake that delighted Enda. ‘We’re going to have a very special long-term relationship.’

Paying tribute to the ‘tremendous’ contribution that Irish emigrants have made to the United States, The Donald commented: ‘I’ve spent a lot of time at St Patrick’s Day parades.’

His home town of New York had staged the very first, he said, on March 17, 1762. Now St Patrick’s Day was celebrated ‘by Americans of all faiths and backgrounds’. He then quoted what he said was his favourite proverb. ‘Always remember to forget the friends that proved untrue. But always remember to be friends with those who stuck by you.’

The Kenny criticism of Trump during the election campaign may have hung briefly in the air at this point, but the president was already promising that the relationship between the two countries was going to be warmer than ever before.

‘We love Ireland and we love the people of Ireland,’ he added.

Replying, Enda Kenny had a rather good ice-breaking joke. After opening in Irish with references to St Patrick, the Taoiseach paused and looked across to the President.

‘I didn’t say anything disparaging about you there.’ Trump laughed and knitted/unknitted his eyebrows in a self-deprecating gesture.

But Mr Kenny was on a roll. ‘They say the Irish change everything. I just saw the president of the United States read from his script entirely.’

The entire room laughed.

MR Kenny went on to publicly congratulate Mr Trump on his election – despite having commented in the Dáil during the campaign that there was ‘an alternative to vote for’.

The Taoiseach added: ‘Elections are tough going. I know – I have been through 20 of them myself.’

He won’t face into another one. But in the meantime he has invited President Trump to Ireland.

When a journalist from The Irish Mail on Sunday asked Enda Kenny if he would still be Taoiseach when he got there, Mr Kenny asked his questioner if he would still be a reporter. But the answer is clear to all. Yesterday was Mr Kenny’s last big engagement, his swan song.

The best he can hope for hereafter is an invitation to swing an iron with The Donald at Doonbeg.