WHEN HOUSE majority leader Eric Cantor recently announced the House calendar for 2012, Ireland’s friends in Congress and the Irish Embassy in Washington were taken aback. Mr Cantor, who has no special interest in Irish affairs, scheduled a “constituent work week” starting Monday March 12th.
With Congress out of session, it was difficult to see how the traditional St Patrick’s Day speaker’s luncheon for the Taoiseach could take place. Since that is usually the first event scheduled, other festivities, such as the White House reception, hinge upon it.
A flurry of diplomatic and political activity ensued. Ambassador Michael Collins contacted the offices of representative Peter King of New York, the chair of the Friends of Ireland in the House, and representative Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the previous chair.
Both men are discreetly asking speaker John Boehner of Ohio to alter the congressional calendar for the sake of Irish-American relations.
“The fact that Congress is not in session does not mean there is not going to be a lunch,” Mr Collins said. If the calendar is not changed, he and sources on Capitol Hill believe the lunch could be scheduled even if Congress is not convening.
St Patrick’s Day festivities are choreographed like a ballet, which usually opens with the American-Ireland Fund dinner. Vice-president Joe Biden has added breakfast with the Taoiseach at his residence the following morning. The Taoiseach then meets with the president in the Oval Office, after which all repair to Capitol Hill for the speaker’s lunch. That evening, the president holds the White House reception.
The protocol is complicated whenever St Patrick’s Day falls on a weekend. Next year, festivities are likely to be held on March 14th-15th or March 15th-16th.
“In conversations with the Friends of Ireland on the Hill and the speaker’s office, we have every expectation that the event will go ahead,” Mr Collins said. His confidence was echoed by a source close to Mr Boehner.
This year, the schedule was not resolved until late February because of the Irish general election.
According to the Office of the House Clerk, Congress first celebrated St Patrick’s Day in 1884, when Representative John O’Neill of Missouri distributed green ribbons on the House floor.
The first annual speaker’s luncheon was hosted by the late Tip O’Neill of Massachusetts in 1983, and was attended by President Ronald Reagan. The House Clerk records that it was intended “to ease tension between the two Irish-American leaders who embodied distinctive conservative and liberal persuasions”.
It’s a safe bet there will still be plenty of tension between Messrs Obama and Boehner next March – and that no US politician will want to be seen to slight Ireland in an election year.