Martin downplays expectations of seeking vaccines from Biden

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has played down expectations that he will request coronavirus vaccine doses from US president Joe Biden during his first bilateral meeting with him on Wednesday.

Speaking on CBS News’s Face the Nation on Sunday, Mr Martin noted that he wasn’t aware of “too many countries that are giving their vaccines away. We will obviously discuss covid and we’ll discuss vaccination.” Asked about reports that the EU has already requested AstraZeneca vaccines from the United States but was rebuffed, he replied: “I am not pre-empting any discussions I will have in detail with the president but obviously the broader covid vaccination issue will of course be discussed.”

Mr Martin also said it was too early to say if the travel bans in place between Europe and the United States would be lifted by the summer.

“We have a significant journey still to go in terms of vaccinations and in terms of keeping the virus down,” he said, noting that covid numbers are rising again in some member states because of the prevalence of the UK variant. Tens of millions of AstraZeneca vaccine doses are ready for use in factories in the United States as the company awaits approval from the US regulator.

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The US signed a deal with AstraZeneca last May. Mr Biden said last week he would be open to sharing vaccines with other countries, but his priority is vaccinating Americans first.

“There have been significant difficulties between AstraZeneca and Europe in terms of AstraZeneca fulfilling its contractual commitments to Europe and they haven’t been in a position to do that and have fallen very far short of what they committed to Europe,”said the Taoiseach. He also said that the issue of Northern Ireland will be discussed at the meeting.

“We want to see a continuation of the president‘s interest in Ireland, support for the Good Friday Agreement and also of upholding the Brexit agreement itself,” he said. “I’ve no doubt that the president will continue that interest and will use his good offices and the administration’s good offices to bring the right outcomes here. I am under no illusions of the significance of the American involvement and engagement with all sides and all traditions and perspectives” in helping to bring peace to Northern Ireland, he added.

Mr Martin’s CBS interview on one of America’s longest-running TV shows comes ahead of a three-day virtual programme of events and meetings to mark St Patrick’s Day in the United States. Engagements with vice-president Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are also scheduled for Wednesday. The traditional bowl of shamrock, which is usually presented by the Taoiseach to the president, has already been delivered to the White House.

Washington interest in Brexit

In a statement on Friday, the White House said that Mr Biden will be hosting the Taoiseach for a virtual bilateral meeting, and was looking forward “to marking this holiday and our close relationship with Ireland in a safe way”. Among the issues that will be discussed are Covid-19, and “supporting political and economic stability in Northern Ireland”.

Wednesday’s meeting will take place amid renewed interest in Washington in Brexit, following Britain’s decision to extend the grace period for custom checks, in breach of the Brexit deal. Congressman Richard Neal has warned that a future US-UK trade deal is in the balance if the Belfast Agreement is undermined in any way, describing the decision to delay the implementation of the checks as “arbitrary and capricious”.

“There seems to be a pattern that is developing in the aftermath of Brexit,” he told The Irish Times. “It was the arbitrary nature of how the UK challenged what they had previously agreed to . . . the sort of camouflaging it by suggesting that it is only about a temporary postponement,” added Mr Neal, who chairs the powerful House Committee on Ways and Means.

Britain has argued that the move to delay the introduction of checks was needed to keep goods on shelves in Northern Ireland. However, the EU is now preparing legal action against the UK for breaking the terms of the agreement, which required the checks to be introduced by April 1st.