A different relationship as Washington parade cancelled

It is another indication that Irish influence in America is on the wane that the St Patrick’s Day parade in Washington DC has been cancelled.

The “distraught” organisers say this is because of expensive security obligations. This is plausible but it is also a consequence of circumstances that do not make emigration to America or anywhere else almost inevitable for so many Irish people.

Despite that silver-lining perspective, this decision seems a victory for those who would weaken us by no more than a whiff of terror. This rings true as decades of tribal warfare on this island drew a response from those determined to sideline the men and women of violence that meant these events endured. That that carry-on-as-normal imperative is no longer as pressing as it was must be seen as another silver lining.

America’s parades symbolised ambition that went far beyond marching bands, occasionally implausible grandmasters, Noraid’s predations and some openly homophobic organisers.

This decision may express an achievement that all of those top-’o-the-morning Irish Americans longed for. It shows that the assimilation of the Irish in America is now so complete, so seamless that a dual identity may be a relic from another time.

Just like the office of American ambassador to Ireland. President Trump has not felt it necessary to appoint one for the last two years. A changed but hardly improved dynamic expressed by unprecedented indifference.