THE TAOISEACH assured the US president at the White House that he “will always have a loyal and faithful friend in me” as long he leads the Government.
Brian Cowen was speaking on Wednesday night as he presented Mr Obama with the bowl of shamrock traditionally given to the US president on St Patrick’s Day.
Previously a morning event, the ceremony took place this year in the evening, as the White House wanted it to be held in front of a wider audience.
The Taoiseach said he was “delighted and touched” to know that not only would the president have the shamrock planted in the children’s garden at the White House, “but it will grow from soil from my own county of Offaly”.
“Not only is the soil from Offaly, but it’s also from Moneygall – the place of your own family’s Irish heritage. I believe, of course, that this soil will have special properties that will ensure that the garden flourishes. At least I hope so,” he quipped.
Making the presentation, the Taoiseach said: “Mr President, it’s now my great honour to present you with a bowl of shamrock. I do so in celebration of the achievements of the Irish in America and of the everlasting friendship between the people of Ireland and the people of the United States of America. You will always have a loyal and faithful friend in me as long as I lead this Government.”
The president said: “This is wonderful, beautiful.” He believed the shamrock would bring “good luck” to the garden. “Thank you very much, that is lovely.”
Earlier, Mr Obama said: “This is rightly a day for celebration and good cheer between America and one of her oldest friends – and it’s a partnership that extends to our earliest days as a republic.
“So before I turn it over to the Taoiseach, let me leave you with all the words from those early days that speak to why this has been such an incredible relationship between our two countries.
“These are words spoken by the father of our country, George Washington: ‘When our friendless standards were first unfurled, who were the strangers who first mustered around our staff? And when it reeled in the light, who more brilliantly sustained it than Erin’s generous sons?’ ”
Extending a special welcome to the North’s First and Deputy First Ministers, Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness, Mr Obama said they were “two men who have stood together with conviction to chart a historic path towards peace”.
Both the president and the Taoiseach referred in warm terms to the late Senator Edward Kennedy, many of whose relatives were present at the ceremony, including his widow, Vicki Kennedy; his daughter, Kara; his son, Congressman Patrick Kennedy; his sister-in-law, Ethel Kennedy, and a number of nieces and nephews.
Also present were the Taoiseach’s wife, Mary Cowen; first lady Michelle Obama; US vice-president Joe Biden; Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin; Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin; Northern Ireland Chief Constable Matt Baggott; newly appointed cultural ambassador for Ireland, actor Gabriel Byrne; golfer Pádraig Harrington; theatre director Garry Hynes; writer Colm Toibín; boxer Katie Taylor; US congressman Richard Neal; Ceann Comhairle of the Dáil Séamus Kirk; Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly William Hay; Ulster Unionist Party leader Sir Reg Empey; SDLP leader Margaret Ritchie; US ambassador to Ireland Dan Rooney, and Irish Ambassador to the US Michael Collins.
Also there were Andrew Sens and Brigadier Tauno Nieminen of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning; US supreme court justice Anthony Kennedy; US secretary of health and human services Kathleen Sebelius; and US secretary of homeland security Janet Napolitano.