St Patrick’s Day can become political in a town such as Brussels.
Invitations to two Guinness-fuelled Irish receptions next week have been harder to come by than tickets to the sold-out CMAT gig in the Belgian capital on Monday, considered by many to be the unofficial start to the week of Paddy’s Day festivities.
Ireland’s permanent representation to the EU, which is more than twice the size of the Republic’s Embassies in London and Washington put together, is having its bash on March 17th. The following evening Fine Gael MEP Seán Kelly and business group Ibec are hosting one in the European Parliament, a tradition going back about 15 years.
The luckiest of those nursing a hangover from CMAT’s gig will have secured an invitation to the annual “Ulster Fry” thrown on by the Northern Ireland Executive’s office on Tuesday morning.
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The fry-up hosts folks from the European Commission, Irish diplomats, the UK mission, some of the Northern Irish diaspora in Belgium and other friends of the executive.
Someone will invariably begin a playful row over whether beans, a staple of a full Irish, belong in an Ulster fry. The traditionalist view, observed at the executive’s breakfast, is no beans.
There was almost no fry at all last year. The NI executive shares an office building in Brussels with Huawei. Belgian police investigating alleged corruption and attempts to bribe MEPs raided the offices of the Chinese tech giant on the eve of the St Patrick’s Day fry. Several people were later charged in the criminal investigation.
The power was cut to the entire building during the raid. This, inadvertently, spelt danger for the meat sitting in fridges in the executive’s office on a separate floor.
Sausages and bacon from Lisburn’s Carnbrooke meats and pudding from Gracehill in Co Antrim had been delivered by van a few days before.
A hasty operation kicked into gear to prevent the bounty from spoiling. Some produce was moved to alternative fridges in neighbouring buildings, while other emergency measures were employed to keep the remaining meat chilled. “It was nearly like something from Derry Girls,” one source recalls.
There is usually a fair bit of jostling by the Irish working within the EU’s institutions and the orbiting world of lobbyists, business and civil society to secure invitations to the various St Patrick’s Day shindigs. That has proved a tougher job this year.
There’s a waiting list for the reception organised by Ibec and Kelly, beyond the 300 or so due to attend. European Parliament authorities are pushing the organisers to keep the numbers down.
“There could be 600 there if we had the space for them,” Kelly says. The drinks reception was “one of the prime events on the social calendar”, he says.
The Guinness ran out two years back, something organisers hope to avoid happening again.
Ireland’s diplomatic mission to the EU, known as its permanent representation, books out the Bozar centre for fine arts for its do, a space that holds about 500.
The number of Irish diplomats, civil servants and other staff working in the “perm rep” has nearly tripled to 270, in preparation for the extra workload when Ireland takes on the rotating EU presidency in July.
It used to be the case that nearly everybody working there, plus spouses, could attend the March 17th event, but this year it has been limited to mostly senior officials.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is well versed in using St Patrick’s Day receptions to leverage soft power and project the image of the easy-going, friendly Irish.
The guest list for its Brussels reception has been tailored to be more outward facing this year, to build goodwill before Ireland’s turn hosting the Council of the EU presidency.
It includes ambassadors from each member state, senior officials in the European Commission and other EU institutions, corporate lobbyists and some of the Irish business community. Irish MEPs are in, but their staff did not make the cut this year.
There are a few spots reserved for Irish journalists, The Irish Times included, and some correspondents from the wider Brussels press corps.
The offering at the parliament event will include packets of Tayto crisps, Cadbury Dairy Milk and Kerrygold butter. The Bozar reception, organised by the perm rep and Ireland’s embassy in Belgium, is going for Irish oysters among its canapé selection.
Guinness is supplied to both by John Martin, a brewery business set up in Antwerp in 1909 by an Englishman. It is run by his grandson Anthony these days, and imports the black stuff for Irish pubs and other bars in Belgium.
The softer power associated with St Patrick’s Day events was “something we shouldn’t take for granted”, Kelly says. “Everybody wants to go”.
