SCARCELY FIVE hours had passed since President Barack Obama announced he would visit Ireland, but already, in the reception line at the White House on Thursday night, the presidential couple were inundated with invitations.
John Hegarty, the provost of Trinity College, reminded the first couple that Bishop John Kearney, a presidential ancestor, held his job some 200 years ago. They might visit the bishop’s tomb in Kilkenny, but Hegarty really wanted the Obamas to come to Trinity College. “It would be tracing a long lineage in education,” he said.
Most of all, Hegarty wants to show the Obamas his house: “It was built in 1760. He became provost in 1799. If you want to experience where Kearney lived, that would be the place to go,” he said.
Fiach MacConghail, the director of the Abbey Theatre, told Obama they share the same birthday – August 4th. When Mrs Obama said she likes theatre, MacConghail invited her to the Abbey.
As MacConghail observed the White House reception, he was most struck by Fionnuala Kenny, “her presence and the good body language between herself and the Obamas. There was a connection made between them. It was very, very evident,” he said.
“The greatest achievement of the Taoiseach on this trip is that the president accepted his invitation to be in Ireland so soon,” said George Moore, a telecommunications, crystal and china millionaire from Dundalk who has settled in Washington.
“It’s a great endorsement for tourism and business in Ireland.” (Dr Moore made his own news this week, when he and his wife Angela donated $5 million at the American Ireland Fund gala for his alma mater, UCD, to train engineers and computer scientists.)
Sometimes it’s better to start with low expectations. “During the campaign, some people were concerned that Enda Kenny wouldn’t come across as a strong and confident speaker,” Monica McWilliams, chief commissioner for human rights in Northern Ireland, said after the Taoiseach’s speech. “Knowing him, I didn’t worry. He rose to the occasion. It went down very well among the Americans who hadn’t heard him before.”
John Myers, an Irish-American Democrat from Ohio, said his left-wing politics prevent him embracing Fine Gael wholeheartedly. Nonetheless, “Tonight, I thought Enda Kenny was a great representative of Ireland,” Myers said. “He’s got a huge task ahead of him.”
Vice-president Joe Biden and Maryland governor Martin O’Malley seemed to vie for the title of most Irish Irish-American. O’Malley attended most of Kenny’s dozen engagements. Biden held a long conversation with the footballer Bernard Brogan, and continued to make the rounds for a least half an hour after the president departed.
Dan Malloy and Pat Quinn, the Irish-American governors of Connecticut and Illinois, also attended.
During the revolutionary war, “Saint Patrick” was the codeword to enter George Washington’s camp, Biden recounted. “Well, ladies and gentlemen, that still works here in the White House,” he announced, to laughter. “Just ask Bill Daley or Tom Donilon or [Denis] McDonough or [John] Brennan, the entire national security team . . . The president is surrounded by us.”
Brennan and Samantha Power, the president’s Irish-born adviser on international organisations, were among several dozen guests who after the reception repaired to Ambassador Michael Collins’s residence with the Taoiseach.
Joe Hassett, the lawyer, Yeats scholar and counsel to the Irish Embassy; Mark Tuohey, who is about to open an office for the US law firm Brown Rudnick in Dublin; Paul Quinn, also a lawyer; Loretta Brennan Glucksman, the chairwoman of the American Ireland Fund; Kieran McLoughlin, president of the AIF; and Kingsley Aikins, consultant to the Worldwide Ireland Funds, were also part of the inner circle that went on to the residence.
Obama is under pressure to include Northern Ireland on his Irish pilgrimage. The strong Northern presence on Thursday night included First Minister and Deputy First Minister Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness, Gerry Adams, Alex Atwood, Tom Elliot and Stephen Farrey. The US consul general from Belfast, Kamala Lakhdhir, attended, as did Declan Kelly and Paul Keary, who promote investment in the North.
Other guests included Eugene Downes of Culture Ireland; Linda Murray, artistic director of the Irish arts group Solas Nua; Mary Davis, organiser of the Special Olympics in Ireland; Senator Scott Brown and retired senator George Mitchell; Jack McDonald, an information technology millionaire; and businessman Denis O’Brien.
Ivan Doherty, former general secretary of Fine Gael, now at the National Democratic Institute; Niall O'Dowd, publisher of the Irish Voice;Stella O'Leary, who heads the Irish American Democrats; former congressman Bruce Morrison and Ciaran Staunton, who lobby for Irish immigration rights, also attended.
Robert Kennedy's son Joe, daughter Courtney and grand-daughter Saoirse were there. The late Sargent Shriver's son Tim sang The Auld Trianglewith Glen Hansard.