Irish welcome awaits Obama, says Kenny
Hopes are high that the president will announce his visit at the traditional St Patrick’s Day meeting in the Oval Office, which is followed by the exchange of a bowl of shamrock.
Ahead of the meeting, Mr Kenny said the president had responded “warmly” to initial invites. “I will extend to him a warm welcome to come to Ireland and if he takes that up he can be assured of a real Irish welcome which will no doubt fortify him for the challenges he faces.”
Addressing the gala dinner of the American Irish Fund in Washington last night, he said: “I’ll meet, for the first time, the man whose family, in the late 1800s, moved from Co Offaly to Deerfield in Ohio.
“Yes, there’s no one as Irish as Barack Obama.”
The Taoiseach called on Irish people to find “the spirit and purpose of St Patrick” to create a very different public, political and business narrative.
“A narrative based on the very ideas on which he based his life: compassion, gentleness, sincerity, responsibility, respect, honour, forgiveness, redemption, restitution, love and letting go.”
At an earlier lunch of business leaders, he pledged that “Ireland will come back” and that “our renewal is already underway”.
He also reassured businesses that Ireland has “no intention of changing” the 12.5% corporation tax rate. “It’s a matter of fundamental importance for our country and to change that would be a massive breach of trust.”
He said Ireland is America’s gateway into Europe. “Our two vital assets are our unique relationship with the United States and our strong, highly regarded position at the heart of Europe.”
Arriving in Washington, Mr Kenny raised the possibility of the Central Bank seeking funding from the US Federal Reserve, which would likely be at a lower interest rate than European Central Bank funding.
He did not raise the issue at last night’s meeting with the US treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner. Responding to media questions before the meeting, the Taoiseach said: “Other banks from other countries with assets in the US are able to leverage federal assistance in respect of the acquisition of those assets in the US.
“The Irish banks are not, either because they are not big enough or because there are technical issues in there that don’t allow them to do that.
“We did encourage during the course of the election campaign that the Central Bank in Ireland should discuss with its counterparts here in the US the question of whether those technical adjustments could be made and that could become a possibility.”
A spokesman for the Taoiseach stressed that it was not a political issue, but that Mr Kenny was “signalling that it remains open to the Central Bank to examine the technical issue of looking at US Federal Reserve with a view to borrowing money from them”.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
