Skip to content

Why St Patrick's week is a long time in politics

Mark Carruthers
Presenter, Sunday Politics NI, in Washington
EPA Taoiseach Micheál Martin and his wife Mary O'Shea present US President Donald Trump with a bowl of shamrock during a St Patrick's Day reception at the White House. Martin is wearing a green tie and navy suit, and his wife is wearing a green dress - her red hair is tied back. Trump is wearing a red tie and a navy suit. He is speaking as his mouth is open. There are US flags and Irish flags behind the trio.EPA
Taoiseach Micheál Martin and his wife Mary O'Shea presented Donald Trump with the traditional bowl of shamrock

St Patrick's week in Washington DC is not for the faint-hearted.

As she addressed the crowd at the Northern Ireland Bureau breakfast on Thursday, Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly urged everyone to remember - "It's a marathon, not a sprint".

She was at her umpteenth St Patrick's-related event in the US capital and she was reminding guests of the need to pace themselves - as if anyone needed to be reminded.

Businesses breakfasts, working lunches, White House visits and evening receptions are the staple diet of those travelling to DC as part of the annual Irish influx.

For just one week everyone is Irish and those who form part of the travelling circus have their stamina rewarded with enviable access to the movers and shakers within the US political elite.

That's why politicians, business and civic leaders, academics and investors all clamber to get into the room.

In Washington "grip and grin" is still how they do business.

Toe-to-toe with Trump

This year the deputy first minister was without her partner in government, First Minister Michelle O'Neill.

Twelve months earlier the pair were lauded wherever they went.

Little-Pengelly had to make do with taking the applause on her own this time, joking at one point that she and O'Neill were not unlike the Gallagher brothers in Oasis - no-one can ever be sure if they'll both turn up at the same time.

While Little-Pengelly had a relatively straightforward week, the same cannot be said for Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Micheál Martin.

There was a huge media focus on his planned face-to-face meeting with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.

Everybody remembers what happened to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Popular opinion suggests Martin went toe-to-toe with the president and avoided any knockout blows. His late father, a celebrated Irish boxer, would have been proud.

NI Executive Donald Trump poses with Emma Little-Pengelly. He is wearing a navy suit over a white shirt and a red tie. She is wearing a blue jacket over a red dress. They are standing in a wooden panelled room. Trump has blond/white hair and Little-Pengelly has long dark hair.NI Executive
Little-Pengelly met US President Donald Trump in Washington

Some of Trump's comments, however, did prove controversial.

After the president expressed his admiration for the Irish former mixed martial arts boxer Conor McGregor, Little-Pengelly told BBC News NI's The View that she engages "with the office of president", rather than his "particular personal views".

The St Patrick's celebrations normally assure Irish affairs of top-billing in Washington but this year the president's focus is on a bigger prize.

As he attempts to move the pieces around on the international chess board, Donald Trump has little time for other countries' ambitions. It is US first, second and third.

So with two high profile conflicts to resolve, trade tariffs to impose and a cost of living challenge for US citizens, that leaves Ireland - north and south - further down the agenda, as the BBC's chief presenter in the US, Caitríona Perry, told the Red Lines podcast.

Getty Images Donald Trump points to US Vice-President JD Vance's shamrock socks while hosting Micheál Martin at the White House. Vance is giggling and Martin is laughing too. He is to the left of Trump, and both are sitting on a yellow high-backed chairs. All three men are wearing suits.Getty Images
US Vice-President JD Vance's shamrock socks were a talking point in the Oval Office

That's not to say there isn't still a huge amount of goodwill towards everyone from the "old country".

The Irish ambassador's reception was one of the hottest tickets in town.

Green milkshakes and perfectly poured pints of Guinness were downed in equal measure.

Tariffs? It's whiskey business

The biggest crowd of the week is always at the Ireland Funds gala dinner.

The taoiseach was temporarily upstaged by members of the Burke family, protesting at the treatment of the County Mayo schoolteacher Enoch Burke.

Also making headlines in the margins of the dinner was the former Democratic Unionist Party MP for North Antrim, Ian Paisley.

In his first interview since he lost his Westminster seat last summer, he told Sunday Politics that he is a close friend of Trump but will still fly the flag for Bushmills whiskey in the face of potentially crippling tariffs.

Mark Carruthers stands on a balcony with the US Capitol building in the background. Mark wears a navy suit over a white shirt and a navy tie.
Mark Carruthers has spent the run-up to St Patrick's Day watching political movers and shakers do business in Washington

And the word of the week? Semiquincentennial.

That's the big party planned for next year when the US turns 250, and it promises to be quite an event.

And with so many significant figures in the history of the nation tracing their roots back to the island of Ireland, many familiar faces will be vying to be on the guest list.

That's provided they have recovered from the St Patrick's marathon this time next year.

You can watch the special coverage of events in Washington DC on Sunday Politics at 10:00 GMT on BBC One NI & BBC iPlayer.