Taoiseach's visit to Great White North represents 'a complete reset' of relations with Canada

Micheál Martin said that he had invited prime minister Mark Carney to visit Ireland officially, an invite which had been accepted, and the pair had agreed a scholarship in the name of General John de Chastelain

Canadian prime minister Mark Carney and Taoiseach Micheál Martin during his visit to Ottawa. Canada take part in the Women's Rugby World Cup final against England on Saturday. Picture: Colleen Anne/Government Information Service

It was the first rain in over a week, Ottawa locals said.

The Canadian capital has, by all accounts, been enjoying a beautiful stretch of weather, which made Thursday's early morning downpour perfect fodder for those who claimed the city had arranged the rain to make Micheál Martin feel at home.

The Taoiseach had travelled to Ottawa from New York, his team and the following media bundling aboard a regional airliner in which the seat cushion was to be used as a floatation device should the worst happen.

This was a trade mission designed to launch a new economic analysis that shows that Ireland is the 10th largest investor in Canada, and that 22,000 jobs in Ireland are backed by Canadian companies. The messaging was clear that this was about more than that. 

Frequent references were made by Mr Martin and the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, about the shared history of the two people, the close cultural ties of the Irish who have made Canada home both now and in the past. Mr Martin specifically made a number of mentions of those Irish who escaped the Famine in 1847, making this place their home.

As the Taoiseach arrived to Rideau Cottage, the unofficial but still official residence of the Canadian prime minister, Mr Martin bounded from an SUV to shake hands with Mr Carney.

Mr Carney, for his part, leaned hard on his Mayo roots. However, he has renounced his citizenship of the home of his grandparents. 

While he himself was born in Canada, he acquired Irish citizenship decades ago through his family ancestry and had a British passport through his work as governor of the Bank of England.

Domestic realpolitik meant that, when he was unexpectedly thrust into politics and swept to the prime minister's office earlier this year, he would return to using just the citizenship of his country of birth. 

On Thursday, he was happy to lean into his roots alongside the Taoiseach.

Mayo origins

As the Taoiseach arrived to Rideau Cottage, the unofficial but still official residence of the Canadian prime minister, Mr Martin bounded from an SUV to shake hands with a man he had met just days earlier on the fringes of the UN in New York. 

Shaking hands, Mr Carney said that the two were going to "eat and do some work" as they headed inside. The media beat a hasty and rain-sodden retreat to Parliament Hill to watch the two men shake hands for a second time and for Mr Carney to articulate his Mayo origins.

Mr Martin said that he had invited Mr Carney to visit Ireland officially, an invite which had been accepted, and the pair had agreed a scholarship in the name of General John de Chastelain, the Canadian diplomat who had played such a vital role in the decommissioning process in the North. 

General de Chastelain was present at the day's main event from an Irish-Canadian point of view, a luncheon hosted by Irish ambassador to Canada John Concannon. 

Mr Concannon, who has been credited with the branding of the Wild Atlantic Way and was instrumental in Ireland's securing a seat on the UN Security Council from 2021, seemed delighted to be playing host to the Taoiseach and the Irish community, though he was nearly mown down by a beer keg pushed by one of his own staff at one point.

Mr Carney said that the two were going to 'eat and do some work' as they headed inside.

The residence in the leafy Rockcliffe is the unlikely home to a flock of wild turkeys who roam the neighbourhood, and was the source of some controversy on Irish soil in 2010 when it was revealed that €4.4m had been spent to turn it into what was called a "palace" at the time. 

While that descriptor is somewhat hyperbolic, it is a residence more than capable of hosting 100 or so Irish-Canadians for a lunch event at which Mr Concannon was effusive about what the day, all eight hours of events, represented. 

He said that it was just the third visit of a Taoiseach to the Great White North, and represented a "complete reset" of relations between the two.

Mr Martin assured Mr Carney that Ireland would ratify the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (Ceta), which had been knocked back by the Supreme Court in 2022.

In the room in Rockcliffe, there was much focus on the gaps in the relationship between the two nations — both culturally and economically. Mr Martin said that the Government will make a major push to close those gaps on the 180th anniversary of those who left Ireland in 1847.

And then, as the rain eased off, Mr Martin headed back to the city en route to a return to New York, just 17 hours after he had left, where he will address the UN on Friday.