Ireland ‘will pay price for mistakes’
“We have as a nation paid a heavy price for the mistakes that were made in our name. But it is a price that has to be paid and pay it we will,” he told a breakfast gathering of businessmen and politicians, including Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel and Illinois Governor Pat Quinn.
It was Mr Kenny’s first full day of his six-day visit to the US, visiting Chicago, the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, New York, then Washington for the now traditional handing over of the shamrock to President Obama.
While Mr Kenny, who is meeting with business and political leaders in Chicago, was keen to talk up the US-Irish links and the importance of the diaspora to the economy, domestic matters dominated his first press conference of the trip.
Mr Kenny confirmed he had an early meeting with Fine Gael backbencher Peter Matthews.
“Let’s just say we cleared the air,” the Taoiseach said of his meeting with Mr Matthews, who caused confusion and a coalition vote loss in committee following his insistence that Central Bank governor Patrick Honohan be called to give evidence before the Mar 31 deadline to pay the €3.1bn Anglo promissory note.
