Leo and Matt’s US plans still up in air
NO DECISION has yet been made as to as to whether Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s partner Dr Matthew Barrett will accompany him to the US next week for the traditional St Patrick’s Day celebrations.
Mr Varadkar was yesterday asked if his cardiologist partner would be going with him to America, in light of an invitation to the couple from US vice president Mike Pence last year to visit his home.
However, the Taoiseach – who is private about his personal life – said there is ‘no decision yet’ as to whether Dr Barrett would accompany him.
Mr Pence is known to be a hardline conservative, but following their meeting at the Naval Observatory in Washington DC last March, Mr Varadkar disclosed that the vice president and his wife Karen said that ‘both Matt and I would be very welcome to visit their home in the future’, which he described as being ‘a very nice gesture’.
Last year, Mayo-born Dr Barrett, who at the time was working in Chicago, joined the Taoiseach for the St Patrick’s Day parade in New York.
Mr Varadkar will meet with President Donald Trump in the White House next Thursday, and issues such as Brexit, the Good Friday Agreement and Ireland’s relationship with the US will be on the agenda.
A statement released by Mr Trump’s press secretary yesterday confirmed he would ‘welcome Taoiseach Leo Varadkar of Ireland to the White House on March 14, 2019, in celebration of St Patrick’s Day’.
It continued: ‘The president also looks forward to hosting the Taoiseach at the annual Shamrock Bowl presentation.’
It is understood that the Taoiseach will use the opportunity to talk about Ireland’s ‘pivotal relationship within the EU following Brexit, as the only English-language nation already hosting a large number of international investors’.
Mr Varadkar said: ‘As you know, the meeting that I’ll have with President Trump is quite short... but I hope the opportunity is there to raise with him general issues around equality, equality of opportunity, relating to women, but not just women.’
Mr Trump announced last summer that he would visit Ireland in November, but this was postponed.
However, Mr Varadkar insisted the invitation remains open.