World of Politics with Harry McGee

I was in the US for all of last week reporting on the visit of the Taoiseach to Boston and Washington DC; my third time there – before this, it was with Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen.

The Shamrock Ceremony, and the dozens of satellite events around it, are very well choreographed at this stage.

Many hundreds of Irish people and Irish Government officials are milling around the US capital for the entire week promoting business, foreign direct investments, culture, tourism, and NGOs.

It’s a bit like Christy Moore’s song about Lisdoonvarna and the divvil and all turning up for it, but for Jackson Browne and Monsignor Horan you can substitute Joe Kennedy junior and the Papal Nuncio.

The big set-piece events are the Ireland Funds dinner on the Wednesday night (Galway woman Caitríona Fottrell is the CEO of this extraordinary organisation which has raised a total of $600 million for Ireland over the years); the Speaker’s St Patrick’s Day lunch at Capitol Hill, and the visit of the Taoiseach to the White House for the Shamrock Ceremony.

This year has been a little different from other years. For one Joe Biden is probably the President with the strongest sense of an Irish heritage, even stronger than the Kennedys.

Instead of the Oval Office visit and the Shamrock Ceremony taking place over one day, the Taoiseach’s engagement with him took place over three days, with the Shamrock Ceremony taking place on actual St Patrick’s Day.

That level of access is just unprecedented. I can’t think of any other world leader who would be able to get more or less unfettered access to Joe Biden for three straight days.

Biden and Varadkar met in the Oval House, both spoke at the Speaker’s Dinner on Capitol Hill that day; both spoke at the private Gridiron event on Saturday; and had two engagements in the White House on Sunday: the St Patrick’s Day brunch and the Shamrock Ceremony.

Pictured: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar poses with US President Joe Biden at the White House last weekend.