Enda Kenny tries to tackle root of problems

At exactly the same time as Taoiseach Enda Kenny was yesterday planting a commemorative tree in the US for those who died during the 1916 Rising, his own Government was at risk of a violent uprooting of its own.

Standing on Washington DC’s Capitol Hill lawn just after 9.30pm Irish time, the Fine Gael leader spoke about the “great honour” he and the country have been given in being allowed to plant an Irish oak tree on the hallowed grounds to mark Ireland’s centenary events.

Beside a similar tree placed in 2014 in the memory of Anne Frank, Mr Kenny told onlookers he was “conscious of the symbolic value of planting a young Irish oak that will grow and mature here on the grounds of the world’s great monuments to democracy”.