Gavan Reilly: Leo went 90 per cent of the way there… and stopped short at the last hurdle

I don’t know whether you’ve heard, but apparently, Northern Ireland is open for business. If you were at any glamorous events in Washington for the last week, your ears will almost be bleeding having heard that so much. Leo Varadkar might have been top of the bill in DC this week, but there is no doubting that the biggest attractions were the newly-installed leaders of the Stormont Executive.

They don’t ever like to talk about it aloud, and in some ways they may not even have realised it themselves, but American leaders are desperate to milk the success of being involved in affairs north of the border. It is effectively the last time that America got involved in anything beyond its shores which didn’t end up as a total disaster. Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria… post 9/11, everything America has touched has turned to crap.

So not alone did the new Northern leaders have a captive audience in which to curry investments, they have an audience who are desperate to be reminded that there are still occasional instances where America’s involvement overseas can be a force for good.

It was also a handy parallel for Leo Varadkar to reach for in his own week of speeches. On a couple of instances, Varadkar spoke to delegations of American leaders while his two northern counterparts were in the room – and was able to directly appeal for America to take the same level of interest in a Middle East peace process, as it had taken in this island 30 years ago.

Of course, that is a slightly harder sell when it comes to Israel and Palestine. 30 years ago, both Britain and Ireland looked up to the US, and both sides were capable of seeing it as a friend and honest broker. When America is principally responsible for the munitions being used by Israel in Gaza, and all the consequent civilian death and bloodshed, it is slightly harder to imagine Palestinians looking up to Joe Biden in the same way (though, it’s not as if Benjamin Netanyahu is in particular hock to the White House at the moment).

All of which makes you wonder why the Taoiseach danced around the issue of American military backing in his various speeches.

It was completely correct for Leo Varadkar to make the visit; America may be a social basket case, but it remains the world’s cultural and corporate powerhouse. A week of being placed on a pedestal and having access to all kinds of open doors is priceless, and if sacrificed once might well be lost forever. The week in Washington is not just a governmental affair anymore: the leaders of Ireland’s trade union movement were also in town to collaborate with American counterparts, while the Attorney General was also present to meet with his various counterparts, Leo Varadkar even found himself sitting beside the Director of the CIA at an exclusive event on Saturday night (away from the media’s scrutiny), and said he had been made privy to some of Americas initiatives at bringing peace to Gaza.

But, if Leo Varadkar was genuinely serious about wanting America to use Northern Ireland as its blueprint for Israel and Palestine, he danced around the elephant in the room by not mentioning America’s role in weaponising what is widely now seen as a genocide.

After his Oval Office meeting on Friday, the Taoiseach said that Joe Biden himself proactively raised this topic – and said America would not stop Israel from being able to defend itself in the midst not only of Hamas’s offensive, but also living in the neighbourhood of other states who aspire to eliminate it.

He was more guarded about whether he himself had raised America’s secondary role in the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people – and only, when asked by me a day later, said he made it clear that he believed Israel has gone beyond the point of self-defence.

What he said in the office will only ever be known by the 15 or 16 people who were present for the hour. What he said on Sunday, at the presentation of the bowl of shamrock, is known by the world: there were hundreds in the room to hear it, and it was carried live on many American news networks.

Leo Varadkar did call for the bombs to stop – but did not elaborate on the point about who was providing them in the first place.

More’s the pity. His speech otherwise was a useful articulation of the mainstream Irish view: that Ireland does see much of its own history mirrored in that of Israel, with its lost language and its worldwide diaspora - but also sees its own story in that of the displacement, hunger, and unfinished nationhood of Palestine. As the leader of a country which is often (and sometimes questionably) accused of anti-Semitism, it was a deft and eloquent summary of how wishing for peace in the Middle East is not a zero-sum game. “I believe it is possible to be for Israel, and for Palestine, and Mr President, I think you do too.”

He went almost all of the way there – what a pity that, at the final fence, the Taoiseach fell short. Leo Varadkar was right when he called for the bombs to stop - what a shame that he didn’t spell out who was responsible for providing them.

Column first appeared in print version of the Meath Chronicle on Tuesday 19th March

Gavan is Political Correspondent for Virgin Media News and Political Columnist for the Meath Chronicle