Taoiseach Micheál Martin T.D. will participate in a programme of virtual events with the United States, from 15 to 17 March to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day. The Taoiseach welcomes the opportunity to continue the tradition of marking the day together with our friends in the US, even though Covid-19 means that in-person meetings are not possible this year.
The traditional high-level political engagements in Washington D.C. will take place on St Patrick’s Day itself, Wednesday, 17 March. The Taoiseach will meet President Joe Biden.
Discussions are expected to cover a broad agenda of issues, including the deep ties between the United States and Ireland; combatting Covid19 and driving recovery; and shared global challenges, including climate. The meeting will also be an opportunity for the Taoiseach to thank President Biden for the US’s ongoing support for the Good Friday Agreement.
The Taoiseach will present President Biden with the traditional Shamrock Bowl, extending St Patrick’s Day greetings from the people of Ireland to the people of the United States.
The Taoiseach will meet with Vice President Kamala Harris. Both will then engage with the inaugural class of Frederick Douglass Global Fellows, twenty American students from minority backgrounds who have been selected to visit Ireland later this year, following in Douglass’s footsteps 175 years ago.
He will meet with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and with members of the US Congress Friends of Ireland Caucus, who mark their 40th anniversary on St Patrick’s Day.
The Taoiseach’s programme commences on Monday, 15 March with a policy address to the Washington D.C.-based Brookings Institution in which he will set out his thinking on managing relations on and off the island in the post-Brexit context.
That evening, the Taoiseach will speak at the US launch of ‘From Whence I Came: The Kennedy Legacy, Ireland & America‘, edited by Brian Murphy & Donnacha Ó Beacháin.
The event will also include a panel discussion with Samantha Power, former US Ambassador to the UN and Biden Administration nominee to lead USAID; Congressman Richie Neal, Co-Chair of the Friends of Ireland Caucus; and former Massachusetts Congressman and Kennedy family member Joe Kennedy III.
The first day will close with an address by the Taoiseach to Boston’s ‘Irish American Partnership’ St Patrick’s Day Celebration.
On Tuesday, 16 March, the Taoiseach will showcase the strength of the US-Ireland economic relationship. He will attend roundtables hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise Ireland, and the IDA, meeting senior US and Irish executives to explore how the Ireland-US two-way trade and investment partnership can help drive economic recovery in both countries.
He will also present Science Foundation Ireland’s St Patrick’s Medals to Vincent Roche – CEO of Analog Devices – and to William Campbell of Drew University, and an Irish Nobel Laureate.
The Taoiseach will speak at an event to mark the renewal of an Ireland/Northern Ireland/US cancer consortium, which aims to enhance cancer research and care on the island of Ireland and in the US through cross-border and transatlantic collaborations in cancer research and education.
Later that evening, the Taoiseach will speak at a public event hosted by the Congressional Friends of Ireland Caucus in association with the Pat & John Hume Foundation, and the Embassy of Ireland commemorating John Hume and the pivotal role he played in garnering US support for the peace process.
Speaking in advance his virtual visit, the Taoiseach said:
The period around St Patrick’s Day is when we traditionally celebrate the remarkable relationship between the US and Ireland. It is a relationship which remains strong and positive, increasingly balanced economically, and covers a wide and growing range of shared interests. My programme covers different dimensions of that relationship: the people-to-people ties, Ireland’s contribution to the diversity that powers America; our economic relationship, where Ireland has a strong story to tell despite the impact of the pandemic, which has dominated life in both our countries over the past year.
My visit is an opportunity to highlight how our mutually beneficial trade and investment relationship leaves both our economies well-positioned to bounce back quickly.
I look forward greatly to meeting President Biden, who has a very special connection with Ireland, and to bring him greetings from Ireland on this his first St Patrick’s Day in office as President. I will thank him personally for his unstinting support for Ireland over many years, including in recent times for his support in helping to secure a positive outcome in the Brexit negotiations, as we face into the task now of making those new arrangements work well.
The Taoiseach will participate in all events from Government Buildings.
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