Ireland gets to show off its soft power on the edges of the United Nations General Assembly
While the Taoiseach’s UN address on Thursday evening would be the pinnacle of the week, the meeting with Mr Mamdani was perhaps the most significant example of Irish soft-power diplomacy at play.
As members of the Irish community in New York gathered for an annual reception held in the Irish consulate, a Guinness tap set up at the side of the room was working overtime.
Although given the month Ireland has had, maybe there should have been a bigger emphasis on serving up whiskey in Ireland House, situated in the slick MetLife Building, just above the iconic Grand Central Station.
After all, just a week earlier, US president Donald Trump announced on the spot that he was lifting the tariffs on Irish whiskey as he visited the Irish Open at his Doonbeg golf course.
“We had a very, very special weekend where we learned first-hand that if we want to get anything done, we need to bring Shane Lowry in our pocket,” foreign affairs minister Helen McEntee told the consulate’s guests.
She may have been joking, but that U-turn from Mr Trump was an example of the impact of Irish soft power. Because, of course, it wasn’t just the Irish Open champ who had swayed Mr Trump. The Irish Government had played a role too.
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And that soft-power diplomacy was out in force in New York this week as the Irish delegation rolled into town for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) High Level Week.
While traffic is always crawling in the Big Apple, this annual event brings the city to a standstill. The NYPD, the FBI, and the Secret Service man the streets around 1st and 2nd Avenue, with their guns a stark reminder that the world’s leaders are in town.
All night, sirens could be heard whizzing up and down Lexington Avenue, in case you would forget that New York truly is the city that never sleeps.
Queues to get into UN headquarters sprawled for several blocks, with the world's media almost coming to blows several times on Tuesday as they fought to get a desk in the oversubscribed media tent for Mr Trump’s address.
As he made his way across the city on Wednesday, members of Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s delegation admitted that even having a blue light escort was not much use, as there was no way to get through the logjams.
But as they stood in the New York Center, for once, it was not the Taoiseach who was late. Rather, it was New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani who was behind schedule.
While the Taoiseach’s UN address on Thursday evening would be the pinnacle of the week, the meeting with Mr Mamdani was perhaps the most significant example of Irish soft-power diplomacy at play.
In social media clips now seen across the world, the mayor and the Taoiseach called the numbers at the weekly bingo game at the seniors' lunch at the New York Irish Centre in Long Island City.
Many of the seniors, most of whom had emigrated from Ireland five or more decades ago, were not fans of Mamdani.
Many said they would give him a chance and show him respect. However, their ability to see their mayor was constrained by the number of journalists, and television and phone cameras blocking their view.
And, unlike the Taoiseach, Mamdani was not there to press the flesh. His late arrival meant the planned speeches were scrapped.
Shortly after, the two men disappeared down the subway, where they met some members of the public. They stopped for selfies, with one woman sitting down in between the two men for a snap.
There were clips for social media, jokes about the Dublin Metrolink, discussions about how the Irish helped build New York, talks about the Taoiseach’s pride and joy (the smoking ban), and even an explanation of how Mayo overcame the curse to win the All-Ireland.
But, at least for the cameras, there was very little substance discussed as they rode on the G-train.
In the world of Mamdani communications, however, the subway ride was an important one that was much more likely to garner attention compared to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s meeting with the Mayor at his residence, Gracie Mansion.
More may have been discussed and achieved at that meeting, but it did not receive half as many headlines as the bingo calling. While he also swapped jerseys with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva, it did not go nearly as viral as Mamdani’s new Cork strip.
Good politics cannot be measured in social media likes, but it was probably the first and only time anyone had ever shown any interest in a Taoiseach meeting with the mayor of New York, exposing Ireland to a brand new audience.
Away from the glare of the spotlight, however, the Taoiseach did more than just take selfies.
The real work was being done in the United Nations headquarters on the banks of New York’s East River, where coastguard boats with armed officers remained ready to pounce at any moment.
The main events were closed off to the media, who were abandoned in a freezing tent, just feet from the river, where all they had for sustenance was a $15 salad and coffee that took several hours to cool down enough to drink.
On Tuesday, the Taoiseach gave a speech at a . He also attended a Palestine event co-chaired by France, the United Kingdom, and Canada on achieving peace in Gaza.
As the Taoiseach said in his UNGA address on Thursday evening, the “international legal order is under tremendous strain”. And perhaps this is why Ireland’s values and stances are more important at these events now than ever.
Back at the MetLife Building on Wednesday morning, there was no sign of Guinness taps or whiskey, as transport minister Darragh O’Brien spoke to the Irish press pack on a footpath, or a sidewalk, as the locals say.
The minister had somehow managed to persuade an irate restaurant owner to let the huddle go ahead, after she complained she was just about to open her doors, and it was causing a scene.
In a bizarre turn of events, he was spotted by a CBS reporter, who whipped out his phone and started interviewing the minister before he hopped on a train to Washington, DC.
“I don’t consider myself a dignitary,” the minister rightfully told him. But how did an Irish minister randomly end up doing an interview with an American CBS journalist?
Perhaps it was luck, or perhaps it was the soft Irish diplomacy at play once more. We continue to charm our way through even the most high-level events.
- Louise Burne, political correspondent
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