Mary Minihan, Political Staff in Washington DC
US Vice-President Joe Biden has said "genius" will be required to "lock down" the Stormont House Agreement.
Mr Biden was speaking as he hosted Taoiseach Enda Kenny at a St Patrick’s Day breakfast at his Washington residence.
Earlier, he welcomed Mr Kenny to Number One Observatory Circle with the comment: "Anyone wearing orange is not welcome here…only joking".
Speaking at the breakfast, Mr Biden commended Mr Kenny for his efforts in all party talks in Northern Ireland over the last year.
“I still think the Stormont House Agreement will hold. That’s my hope,” he said.
“We need genius on all sides to lock this agreement down.”
Mr Biden said “unity and trust” needed to be built to make the agreement work.
“And finally, finally, finally bring an end to this dark chapter. We are anxious for that to happen.”
When he made the remark about wearing orange, Mr Biden had been bantering with Mr Kenny and his wife Fionnuala, who was wearing a green jacket, as they posed for photographs at the door of his residence.
Welcoming Mrs Kenny warmly, he said his wife Jill was teaching at college and she did not get a day off, which was a pity.
Immigration Impasse
Taoiseach Enda Kenny believes that the impasse over the reform of US immigration laws to help illegal Irish immigrants may be “intractable,” he told an audience of America dignitaries at a St Patrick’s Day breakfast hosted by US Vice President Joe Biden.
Speaking at Mr Biden’s residence in Washington, Mr Kenny urged American lawmakers to act to reform the country’s immigration laws, describing it as an issue that affects the Irish “in a very personal sense.”
“Despite the best efforts of the administration it hasn’t happened and responsibility when it comes to politicians has got to be followed through,” he told a gathering of prominent Irish-Americans that included American senators, a US Supreme Court justice and members of the Obama administration.
“This is an issue, I think, that needs to be addressed. It may well be somewhat intractable,” said the Taoiseach.
Mr Kenny said that he expected the disagreement over welfare reforms in Northern Ireland to be resolved between the parties.
Addressing an audience that included former US diplomat Richard Haass, the chairman of the all-party talks in the North, he thanked the US administration for assisting in trying to help resolve political differences.
“Occasionally in politics we get a blip here and there, and this is something that just has arisen now,” he said.
“I expect it can be sorted out and people can move. We would encourage everybody to do their duty in politics.”
Recovery is the priority
The Taoiseach said the challenge for his Government was to secure the economic recovery “so that those who are vulnerable and those who still suffer the consequences of the most catastrophic economic situation we have ever faced in would actually feel and see the benefit of a rising economy.”
He said that he hoped the US and the European Union could conclude the proposed EU-US trade deal,, known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP, between the “two greatest developed units on the plant” by the end of Mr Obama’s presidency.
“There is no reason why we shouldn’t have a trade agreement that can bring the benefit of a million jobs on either side of the Atlantic,” he said.
“The European Union with 23 million unemployed faces serious challenges. This is a matter for the teams and the leaders of the teams to get on with that business.”
Mr Kenny concluded his remarks by renewing his invitation to Mr Biden, who can trace his family roots back to the Finnegans from Co Louth, to return to Ireland to play golf.
“The golf courses are still there,” he said, noting than the courses were in “better condition” than they have been. “So welcome home, Finnegan,” Mr Kenny told him.
“I just want to let you know I’m going,” Mr Biden replied.
The Vice President said that the Taoiseach did him “a great favour” by inviting him me for the fifth time to come and play golf.
“You gotta talk to the President,” he said.
He recalled how Mr Kenny sat down with Mr Obama at their last meeting and urged him to allow Mr Biden to travel to Ireland.
“Joe - you gotta let him go. You gotta let him go,” Mr Biden said of Mr Kenny’s conversation with the US president.
Guests at the St Patrick’s Day breakfast, an annual fixture on the Washington political calendar, included US senators Pat Leahy, Robert Casey, Pat Toomey, Ed Markey and Jeanne Shaheen, US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and Congressman Joe Kennedy, the grandson of former US senator Robert F Kennedy.
US ambassador to Ireland Kevin O’Malley, Irish ambassador to the US Anne Anderson and Gina McCarthy, the administration of the Environmental Protection Agency also attended.