US political rivals sit down to break bread and celebrate Irish-American heritage

Political rivals at almost every other time, US President Barack Obama and the speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, set aside their differences briefly on Friday.

It's all very Irish to put tensions aside to break bread, drink and be merry, and this is exactly what the Democratic president and the most powerful Republican in the US Congress will do at lunchtime.

Mr Boehner will host the president in the speaker’s traditional St Patrick’s Day lunch in Washington.

The president and vice-president Joe Biden will join Taoiseach Enda Kenny and prominent Irish-American members of Congress for a short truce in the war between Democrats and Republicans, which is fought over everything from the president's healthcare law to routine presidential appointments.

The divisions between the White House and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives are so wide that the president and speaker have engaged just twice in one-on-one meetings since December 2012.

Over pan-seared Chilean sea bass and fallen lemon soufflé – and to the strains of Irish musical duo Gerry Timlin and Tom Kane from Philadelphia – Mr Obama, the great-great-great grandson of a Co Offaly shoemaker, and Mr Boehner, the Catholic son of a barkeeper, will come together to celebrate the strong Irish-American heritage in the US and its politics.

Today's event is the 31st speaker's lunch. Started on March 17th, 1983, Republican president Ronald Reagan and Democratic speaker Tip O'Neill had first suggested setting aside their differences to meet for a luncheon on Capitol Hill to mark St Patrick's Day.

The annual lunch is said by some to help make the two grandees of Washington politics, ideological foes, close friends.