PoliticsAnalysis

Ireland and US celebrate enduring ties amid changing times

Joe Biden and Simon Harris will meet in the White House on Wednesday against an extraordinary backdrop

Simon Harris speaking at a special US Independence Day lunch in Dublin organised by the American Chamber of Commerce. Photograph: Conor McCabe Photography
Simon Harris speaking at a special US Independence Day lunch in Dublin organised by the American Chamber of Commerce. Photograph: Conor McCabe Photography
Keith Duggan
Wed Oct 09 2024 - 00:01

It was not even seven months ago but already the St Patrick’s Day scenes at the White House on a sunny March Sunday belong to a vanishing political era.

When US president Joe Biden addressed the gathering, he jokingly referenced the milestone of 100 years of diplomatic relations between Ireland and the United States., quipped that he wasn’t there at the beginning.

At the time, Biden was lightly batting away concerns about his age and stamina that would ultimately lead to his extraordinary decision to not go ahead as the Democratic nominee in this year’s presidential election. As it transpired, the happy event proved to be the last international duty of then taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who sensationally resigned from the role just two days after flying home from Washington.

Now, in the waning months of his presidency, Biden is preparing to welcome Taoiseach Simon Harris to the White House to formally mark that centenary with a two-day programme that has been hastily amended and reduced in acknowledgement of the anticipated threat presented by Hurricane Milton. It is due to strike the west coast of Florida on Wednesday, causing the abrupt cancellation of a planned gathering in the Rose Garden with over 300 guests and speeches by both leaders.

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Instead, Harris and Biden will hold a low-key 30-minute scheduled conversation in the Oval Office. The Taoiseach will also follow through with other engagements, including a meeting with the Friends of Ireland caucus and a visit to Georgetown university on Thursday morning.

In advance of the visit, Harris said the US was the first country to recognise Ireland diplomatically, adding that he welcomes the opportunity to discuss “the many challenges we face, including the desperate situation in Gaza and the wider Middle East”.

He described the US-Irish relationship as a “unique and special” one that is “renewed and strengthened with each generation”.

A resolution to commemorate the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the countries was introduced by US representatives Mike Kelly and Richard Neal in July.

“For the last 100 years, the United States and Ireland have maintained a strong relationship rooted in our shared democratic values,” Neal said then.

“Whether it be our economic ties or our mutual commitment to promote freedom and rules-based international order around the globe, the United States and Ireland have stood by one another for the last century. We will continue to do so for the next 100 years and beyond.”

Biden has, through his five-decade political life, worn his ancestral links to Ireland as a badge of honour and he joins a famous cast of American politicians, from former presidents Bill Clinton and John F Kennedy to House Speaker Tip O’Neill, who were crucial in furthering the concept of a special relationship between the two countries.

The formal opening of the relationship is recognised as October 7th, 1924 when then Irish ambassador Timothy Smiddy presented his credentials to president Calvin Coolidge.

From the crucial role of the Clinton administration in the talks that culminated in the Belfast Agreement to the widespread Irish unease at the use of Shannon Airport by US military during the Iraq War in 2003, which was interpreted by many as stretching the integrity of Irish neutrality, the relationship between both countries has remained close even as the traditional “Irish” vote in the US became diluted.

Nostalgia, historical attachment and economic pragmatism are the chief binds a century into a relationship that will be celebrated against the backdrop of an unprecedented storm and a bitterly divisive US election.

Keith Duggan

Keith Duggan

Keith Duggan is Washington Correspondent of The Irish Times