Covid casts its long shadow over Taoiseach’s St Patrick’s Day visit to US

Micheal Martin is currently self-isolating at Blair House, near the White House, after testing positive during his visit.

The virtual bilateral meeting between Taoiseach Micheal Martin and US President Joe Biden (White House/PA) (PA Media)

As his plane touched down in Washington at the beginning of this week, the Taoiseach could have been forgiven for thinking that his moment had at long last arrived.

Micheal Martin has endured a long and frustrating wait to secure the prized St Patrick’s Day invite to the White House.

He had served as leader of the opposition for almost a decade and when he finally did ascend to the top job as premier, Covid ensured his first St Patrick’s Day in 2021 was spent at home, conversing remotely with Joe Biden from the other side of the Atlantic.

This time was meant to be different.

The appeal of the St Patrick’s Day celebrations in Washington for an Irish premier is easy to understand.

The pressures and confrontations of domestic politics are temporarily left aside as the Taoiseach is lauded and feted by a series of US political and business figures, keen to reconnect with their Irish roots.

Mr Martin received the warmest of welcomes during his American adventure this week, widely praised for the firm stance he has taken on the Ukrainian crisis and receiving a sympathetic hearing for his arguments in defence of the sanctity of the Good Friday Agreement.

But this was also a working trip and the shadow of Covid never seemed to be far away.

On Tuesday night, the premier appeared at a Tourism Ireland event where he declared that the island was once again open for international visitors as the tourism industry recovers from the devastating impact of the pandemic, before watching a performance of one of Ireland’s most famous exports, Riverdance.

The following day, in words that were to prove prophetic, he cautioned people ahead of St Patrick’s Day that Covid had not gone away.

He urged people to “be comfortable in what you’re doing and take basic precautions in terms of your own health and in terms of the Covid situation”.

The main build-up to the celebrations for the patron saint began on Wednesday night with the glittering 1,000 US dollars-a-head Ireland Funds Gala dinner in the magnificent setting of the US capital’s National Building Museum.

Excitement for the extravagant black-tie fundraising event was heightened when it was revealed that Mr Biden was to make an appearance, a demonstration of his particular interest and affection for Irish affairs.

As the president delivered a crowd-pleasing speech, he often singled out Mr Martin, sitting directly in front of him, for praise.

The first sign that the Taoiseach was about to upstage the president emerged during a speech delivered by Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.

She was due to present Mr Martin with an award, but when the time came for him to ascend to the stage, Ms Pelosi seemed to stumble over her words, cryptically indicating that the Taoiseach was not available to accept the accolade as he “is on call as one of the leaders in the world”.

Instead, the Irish Ambassador to the US, Daniel Mulhall, approached the podium and, in more plain terms, announced to a stunned crowd of 700 that the Taoiseach had tested positive for Covid and had left the building.

The shock news was still being digested when thoughts quickly turned to what would happen the next day, when a carefully-orchestrated series of events had been planned at the White House and Capitol Hill with Mr Martin as the St Patrick’s Day guest of honour.

Irish embassy and White House officials began a fevered set of discussions to formulate alternative arrangements.

It quickly became clear that the bilateral meeting between the president and Taoiseach and the historic shamrock presentation would have to be carried out virtually once again. Last year, the two leaders were separated by an ocean, this year by the width of a Washington street with the Irish premier marooned at Blair House, the president’s official guest house.

The subjects for the virtual meeting were the same as if they had met face-to-face – Ukraine, economic links, the Northern Ireland Protocol and Brexit.

But much of the prestige of the event comes from sharing the Oval Office with the world’s most powerful man. Instead, as Mr Biden sat next to a bowl of shamrock, Mr Martin peered out from a TV screen.

Later, as he addressed the media on a Zoom call from self-isolation, the premier spoke with candour. He admitted his disappointment, but said it was “not the end of the world” and had to be put in context of some of the major problems around the globe.

Mr Martin’s time in office has come to be defined by Covid. When he was elected Taoiseach in 2020, restrictions meant his family could not be at his side. Much of the time since then has been spent trying to deal with the health, political and economic impact of the pandemic.

This week his wife Mary and eldest son Micheal Aodh accompanied him to Washington, seemingly a symbol of the long-awaited return to normality.

But on this occasion, as in so many others during Mr Martin’s time as Taoiseach, the shadow of Covid was to prove impossible to escape from.