Taoiseach in Covid isolation for 10 days after testing positive in US
The Taoiseach could now have to remain in America for 10 days, meaning he will miss a Covid remembrance ceremony this weekend and a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels next week.
The Taoiseach has been forced into Covid isolation for 10 days in the US after a dramatic 24 hours which saw him miss out on a meeting with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office.
Micheál Martin was escorted out of an Ireland Funds dinner in Washington on Wednesday night during the appetisers, when his PCR test came back positive, just hours before he was due to go the White House.
The Taoiseach could now have to remain in America for 10 days, meaning he will miss a Covid remembrance ceremony this weekend and a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels next week.
However, officials were tonight scrambling to reorganise plans and could not say exactly when the Taoiseach will return to Ireland.
Mr Martin had been sitting next to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi before he was informed of his Covid results.
Ms Pelosi was about to make an award to Mr Martin, but Irish ambassador Dan Mulhall accepted the award instead, and confirmed to the 700 guests in attendance that Mr Martin had tested positive.
"The Taoiseach had a mask on when he sat down but then when he started to eat, he took off the mask and then they called him aside," Ms Pelosi said on Thursday.
"I didn't know why. But then sometime later when it was my turn to speak, they told me how we would proceed and that he would not be speaking.
"I wasn't measuring it in minutes, but part of it was masked, some of it while he was eating but it was during the appetizer that they took him away," she said.
President Biden was also a speaker at the gala dinner and met with Mr Martin "at a distance" for seven-and-a-half minutes.
Mr Martin's Covid confirmation meant his meeting with Mr Biden was switched to a virtual discussion for the second year in a row, with Mr Martin remaining in Blair House.
"Last year, we met virtually across the Atlantic. This year we're meeting virtually across the road. So we're getting closer," the Taoiseach joked, before adding that it was "unfortunate" that both men could not meet in person.
Mr Martin invited the President back to Ireland and Mr Biden, whose ancestors came from Mayo and Louth, said he would love to visit, but did not provide any indication of a date.
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