Taoiseach Micheál Martin came and went. On his own steam. He duly delivered the bowl of shamrock and could probably pat himself on the back for avoiding a situation in which President Trump diverted himself from Canada, Greenland and Gaza and started musing over whether or not the United States should annex Ireland.
In another time, people in Ireland would joke about the place being the 51st state. It wasn't entirely in jest as the divide between the two countries, in so many respects, was a good deal narrower than the Atlantic. Few would joke about it now.
Mr. Martin had a very full week for his U.S. visit, a mission that took him to Texas as well as Washington, D.C. His main day in the nation's capital was Wednesday, March 12. Some in his traveling party, and not a few looking on from farther afield, expected rough going in the Oval Office.
As it turned out the day started in a friendly enough fashion with a visit by Mr. Martin and his wife Mary to Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife, Second Lady Usha Vance. The greeting was warm, Vance's shamrock socks something of a signal for prospects ahead.
The greeting in the Oval Office was warm enough too. President Trump seems to have a relative soft spot for Ireland and the Irish. But the fifty minute tete-a-tete was pretty much entirely on the president's terms. Martin appeared less an equal in the room than a reluctant supplicant.
Trade and tax issues rooted in U.S. corporations doing business in Ireland, as expected, were forcefully raised by the president. Trump's most vehement words, however, were directed at the European Union, of which Ireland is a dedicated and enthusiastic member.
The Martins meet the Vances. Photo from X.
Martin resisted the temptation to defend the union. Or maybe he wasn't tempted at all. He took some stick for this back in Ireland, an example being this by Martin Devlin in the Irish Independent: "'Who are you loyal to?' TD Mattie McGrath memorably asked in an Oireachtas media committee hearing. Ursula von der Leyen might be tempted to put the same question to Taoiseach Micheál Martin, who avoided any public expressions of allegiance towards the EU during the ritual St Patrick’s Day visit to Washington.
The Taoiseach focused on sidestepping anything to provoke thin-skinned Donald Trump, a fixed grin on his face and his mouth shut tight, even as the US president repeatedly strafed the EU."
To some extent the shamrock bowl presentation later in the day allowed Martin a more equal footing, or at least an equal hand on the bowl. In this meeting it was President Trump who was at the receiving end, albeit of a bowl with a three leaf plant that St. Patrick used to explain the Holy Trinity to an all powerful Irish High King. Martin passed on the potential theological moment.
All in all the taoiseach's mission to the U.S. appears to have been a success, the White House part of it a successful exercise in political ducking and weaving. As one commentator put it, Mr. Martin was presented with a bad hand and managed to play it well.
