We should find out later today if the Carlow Kilkenny constituency based Minister of State is among those set to represent Ireland abroad for St Patrick’s Day.
The Government is planning a diplomatic blitz of the United States for the 17th of March with Tánaiste Simon Harris set to bring a memo to Cabinet this morning outlining plans to send Minister’s to 40 locations across the world.
Our Chief Political Correspondent Seán Dafoe says that the Taoiseach Micheál Martin with the Tánaiste and no less than eight other Ministers will all travel to the United States next month for the Irish national holiday.
The diplomatic offensive has been set up in response to a turbulent first few weeks of Donald Trump’s second Presidency.
Much of the plan will focus on meetings with political leaders at federal and state level to build partnerships to protect Ireland’s interests.
Trade in particular will be front and centre with Ministers to stress that Ireland is the seventh largest source of foreign direct investment into the United States – and that the partnership between the countries is worth a trillion euro economically a year.
But there will be heaps of outside pressure for the Government to also fight the corner for Palestine while meeting American officials.
And some are opposed to the trips happening at all – with the Social Democrats yesterday calling for neither Government or opposition politicians to visit Washington this St Patrick’s Day.
Minister Jennifer Murnane O’Connor, who typically attends a number of St Patrick’s Day parades in Carlow and Kilkenny, has told KCLR News she’s not yet aware if she’s due to travel this year.
