Editorials

The Irish Times view on Ireland-US relations: turning access into influence

The Irish-US relationship remains strong, despite exaggerated concerns expressed by some that Dublin’s influence may be waning

US president Joe Biden speaks during a virtual meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin in the Oval Office of the White House on March 17th 2021. Photograph: Erin Scott-Pool/Getty Images

Wed Mar 16 2022 - 20:30

When Taoiseach Micheál Martin meets Joe Biden on Thursday in the White House for the presentation of shamrock he will be playing his part in a now-40-year St Patrick's Day tradition which provides Irish diplomacy with useful access to the US president.

For a small country with little geopolitical heft it is an invaluable, apparently immutable calendar date, made the more significant by this president's strong familial links and personal attachment to all things Irish. It is also symbolic of a wider political influence that will be marked by other events such as the Capitol Hill lunch. The discussions between the two leaders will range from concerns over the Northern Ireland protocol to Irish immigrant visas and, inevitably, Ukraine.

The Irish-US relationship remains strong, despite exaggerated concerns expressed by some that Dublin’s influence may be waning. The immigration issue has in recent years become politically far more sensitive and divisive in the US, and advancing the special case for Irish visas more difficult. But Martin hopes to tempt Biden with offers to facilitate two-way exchange of people between Ireland and the US.

The early 1970s Irish diplomatic success in drawing the US apart from Britain was crucial, former ambassador to the US Seán Donlon has suggested

And two US senators are reportedly backing proposals which would allow Ireland to benefit from US-Australia visas not taken up under a current agreement which could benefit up to 5,000 graduates a year.

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Irish influence has been most notable in recent times in the post-Brexit determined response of both Congress and the administration to attempts by London to rework the protocol with the threat to block a US-UK trade deal if the Belfast Agreement is unravelled.

The early 1970s Irish diplomatic success in drawing the US apart from Britain was crucial, former ambassador to the US Seán Donlon has suggested: "We were no longer asking the US to intervene in support of the Irish nationalist position. We wanted them to join with the Irish and British government and the political parties in Northern Ireland in seeking a solution".

That has made it possible to give US politicians a sense of ownership of the peace process and particularly the Belfast Agreement. The latter is seen for its own merits by both Democrats and Republicans, Irish-American Congressman Richard Neal argues, as a major achievement in US foreign policy, and all sides want to see it survive and flourish.

Generational, social and cultural shifts in the make-up of Irish-America, the eclipse of the great Irish political machines and decline of solid voting blocks, along with the disappearance of some of the great heavyweights of the political scene, have transformed the landscape. But newer diplomatic outreach to Republicans and to state politics still offer huge opportunities to get Ireland’s message across.

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