WHEN THE US President asks you to pay the White House a visit, you don’t say no.
That’s the view of Taoiseach Simon Harris, who said recently that he is somewhat perplexed by the position held by some back in Ireland that he should turn down such an invite.
But even a hurricane couldn’t stop the Taoiseach from getting into the Oval Office. It was his first time in the office, could it be his last or first of many? That is the big question that the voters will decide upon back home, most likely very soon.
Hurricane Milton did result in a setback to his visit, with the Rose Garden reception with 300 people due to attend in commemoration of 100 years of US-Irish relations being postponed.
It was tipped as a big event that had apparently been in the schedule for some time, prior to Biden stepping aside as the presumptive Democratic nominee and before Harris became Taoiseach.
It would have been good campaign fodder for Biden if he were still in the race, but with the way things had turned out, the reception had turned into a ‘going away drinks’ of sorts for the teetotal president.
So in the end it wasn’t an essential event but rather one that could be cancelled at a moment’s notice, which is what happened.
The hurricane, which is getting wall-to-wall coverage on US news channels, resulted in the White House making the choice that it would not be wise for the president to be seen celebrating in the sun with influential Irish-Americans and Democrats, Guinness flowing and Irish dancing galore, all the while Florida residents are suffering with the impact of a devastating hurricane.
It wouldn’t be great optics, for sure.
But, getting back to the question of whether the Taoiseach should have jetted over for the 48-hour Washington DC visit.
Every year, questions are raised about the annual St Patrick’s Day jolly to the White House, but in particular the question deserves to be posed on this occasion.
Love it or loathe it, the St Patrick’s Day visit is locked in and the government won’t give up on that annual jaunt easily, with officials stating that it results in soft power opportunities for Ireland.
But this visit was not viewed by the White House as an ‘official’ state visit, this reporter was told, otherwise, the Taoiseach would have been staying in Blair House, a residence across the road from the White House where heads of state stay the evening before meeting with the president.
So, other than the marking a hundredth anniversary, which ended up being postponed, what was or should have been the overall focus point for this trip?
For many back home, the Palestinian cause and what is happening in Gaza, should be.
Off all the world leaders, Biden is the one who holds the most leverage over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, though some would question how much influence he has now in light of the continuing violence.
Prior to this trip, Harris denied that it would be a “cosying up” exercise, with the Taoiseach pledging to “speak the truth” to his US friends.
“Ireland’s never afraid to speak our view. And I’m not afraid of that either. We speak the truth. We speak up for our foreign policy,” he said.
But yesterday, Harris had the ear of one of the most influential men in the world, a leader who could make a real difference, if he chose to, in the violence being inflicted on the Palestinian people.
The Taoiseach was repeatedly asked yesterday if he would directly raise the issue of the US supplying arms to Israel, if he would call on Biden to cease supplying arms and also if he would object to any indication that the US president would continue to do so.
At this point in the conflict, that is the number one issue that the Irish people wanted raised with Biden.
Instead of giving a straight answer to the repeated questioning, Harris dodged answering it, responding only by saying:
It’s up to every country to decide what they wish to do. I don’t set the foreign policy of any other country.
He went on to say that he would of course convey to Biden Ireland’s foreign policy position.
“Our foreign policy is of the view that the world is not doing enough, that everybody needs to use every lever at their disposal, that includes the supply of arms, of course it does, but it’s up to every individual country to decide its own foreign policy,” he said.
Tip-toeing around the issue of arms supplies, instead reminding everyone, all the world leaders, of the “levers” they have, fell short of what many would have expected the Taoiseach would say in the Oval Office.
Speaking after the bilateral meeting, Harris said he and President Biden had discussed the obligations, again, of all countries to use what levers they had available to bring about a cessation of hostilities, including the issue of arms.
Lumping the US into a pot of what “all’ countries should do, and how they should all get their thinking caps on as to what more they can do, is a glaring misstep by the Taoiseach.
It is either the Taoiseach holding rigidly to protocol that another nation shouldn’t interfere in another’s foreign policy or it is just plain old bottling it when in the room with the super powerful.
In fairness to Harris, he is not the first Taoiseach to fall short of expectations in Oval Office meetings.
Pressure was on former Taoiseach Enda Kenny to call out Donald Trump’s immigration policies when he visited the White House, particularly as Kenny was one of the first heads of state to visit the newly elected president.
While he was applauded for a shamrock ceremony speech in which he referred to St Patrick as a migrant, it was a line he had delivered previously, though it landed well in the US at the time.
Similarly last year, Leo Varadkar was urged to raise the issues in Gaza and in particular to raise the matter of a ceasefire being called, something that was shockingly rather taboo at the time, particularly in the US.
Yesterday, Harris was at pains to point out that he presented the view of the Irish people to the US president.
But the overall view of the Irish people is they want the violence to stop and if the cutting off of arms supply by the US is the only way a ceasefire can be achieved, then that is what the Taoiseach should be calling for in his meeting with the president.
Following the meeting, Harris said Biden had briefed him on the “substantial” conversation he had held with Netanyahu, stating that he left with the view that it was a very important conversation that took place between the two leaders and one in which he hopes yields results.
In the readout of that conversation there was no mention of the word ceasefire, instead it states that Biden affirmed his ironclad commitment to Israel’s security.
Everybody needs to ask, what more can they do to bring about a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, the Taoiseach said this week.
We know what more needs to be done to bring about a ceasefire at this point. Stopping the arms being supplied to Israel.
And, by all indications, we failed to make that direct request to the man who actually has the power to do so.
Instead, it would appear we danced around the issue, failing to call out the elephant in the room.
So yes, when the US President invites you to the White House, you do, as Taoiseach, accept.
But you use your voice, be a messenger for the Irish people and directly call on your “friend” to stop giving arms to Israel while they are at the same time calling for a ceasefire.
When the stakes are this high and thousands more lives are on the line, the place for diplomatic protocol is in the bin.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say