‘Ministerial visits abroad really matter’

To mark St Patrick’s Day, Enda Kenny will travel across the US this weekend. From Chicago, to Indiana and on to New York, he will arrive in Washington on Monday night for a dinner hosted by the American Ireland Fund.

On Tuesday, he will visit US president Barack Obama at the White House and then go to a lunch on Capitol Hill.

My experience of White House visits in the Clinton and Bush eras is of the extraordinary access provided. Politics and business may be driven by interests and not friendships, but a huge part of those interests is based on impressions that key people make.