Coveney conf ident over Patrick’s Day trip to US
Talk to Joe: Minister looks forward to close links with Biden regime
ST PATRICK’S DAY celebrations may have been cancelled for many this year – but not, it seems, for president Joe Biden.
For Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has said that he thinks the traditional St Patrick’s Day visit to the White House will indeed go ahead this year.
The tradition, which dates back to 1956, sees the Taoiseach present the US president with a bowl of shamrocks in a show of their alliance.
Last year’s visit by then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to former president Donald Trump was cut short amid the first coronavirus outbreak in Ireland.
However, asked if this year’s visit would go ahead, Mr Coveney replied: ‘I think it will. But we have to figure out how we do St Patrick’s Day this year safely.
‘As we know, parades have already been cancelled. But we will reach out in the most appropriate way we can, in the most impactful way we can, obviously while being sensitive to public health perspectives.’
He told RTÉ’s News At One: ‘St Patrick’s Day is an extraordinary and unique opportunity that Ireland has.
‘We make the most of it every year, and I have no doubt that between the Taoiseach and the new Irish-American presence in the White House, we’ll have a very close and detailed interaction over that period.’
The comments will no doubt be welcomed by Mr Biden, whose heritage traces back to Co. Mayo and Co. Louth. The president has spoken proudly of his Irish roots, and told of his desire to visit Ireland..
Mr Coveney also praised the new administration for its ‘change of direction’ from the Trump presidency. He said: ‘I think we are likely to see a very different foreign policy direction, one that’s much closer to Irish thinking.
‘I hope to be able to travel, despite all of the restrictions of the pandemic. I hope to be able to travel to Washington soon to build relationships with many of the
Irish-Americans that are part of this administration. There’s a lot of work to do here, but I think it makes that work a lot easier, when we share a very similar approach to the administration.’
Mr Coveney also spoke of the differences that Ireland had had with the former administration.
He said that while they had enjoyed a ‘good and respectful’ relationship with the former US president, there were ‘significant differences of opinion’ – particularly on the Middle East, the climate and migration, with Mr Coveney adding wryly, ‘it’s a long list’.
He continued: ‘What we are seeing now is an administration with a very, very different outlook on the world and how it interacts with global politics.
‘They are already signalling they want a much warmer transatlantic relationship.’
Mr Coveney made his comments at an online webinar outlining the country’s priorities for the United Nations Security Council. Ireland, which won a temporary seat at the council in June, formally took its seat as an elected member three weeks ago.
He said: ‘We face an uncertain global landscape, marked by tensions and regional rivalries, the unravelling of international arms control regimes; the threat posed by terrorist organisations and other non-state actors, and the global challenge of climate change, increasingly seen as a multiplier of conflict and instability.
‘These challenges have been compounded by the coronavirus pandemic, and by an increasing scepticism in some quarters about the value of multilateralism.
‘We, however, believe that the UN remains indispensable.’
‘We make the most of it every year’