Elaine Loughlin: Our relationship with the US needs to change

This week, not-so-new-anymore Taoiseach Simon Harris had his first conversation with Mr Biden. It took 70 days for the 15-minute phone call to happen.

A readout from the White House stated that the president first congratulated Mr Harris on his “recent” election, before discussing how to deepen cooperation on a range of issues.

“President Biden highlighted continued cooperation with the Irish Government on shared priorities, particularly deepening US-Ireland ties between our people and our economies,” the statement added.

When asked why it had taken more than two months to arrange the phone call, a spokesperson for the Taoiseach said: “There is a lot going on in the world, I suppose.”

“The US president has been quite busy,” the spokesperson said, adding that the call had been arranged a week in a advance.

Both leaders also spoke about political stability in Northern Ireland.

More interestingly, another issue raised was the importance of cybersecurity to ensure a thriving tech sector in Ireland which, as the White House readout stated, is “home to many US tech companies”.

Ask not what you can do for your country, but what you can do for your more powerful cousin’s country

Both administrations will always stress that the relationship has long been based on common ancestral ties and shared value, but it’s strategically handy for the US to have a small island on the periphery of Europe in its pocket.

We provide airspace and stopover facilities in Shannon, along with ensuring US multinational companies have a workforce and a tax rate that works for them.

Mr Biden will no doubt be able to use footage from his pilgrimage back “home” last year to shore up Irish-American support ahead of the November elections.

This year, a total of 12 government representatives travelled to parts of the US for the St Patrick’s festivities. This included the Taoiseach, attorney general Rossa Fanning, Helen McEntee, Heather Humphreys, and Catherine Martin.

We sent just one minister to China, Japan, and India which — along with the US and Germany — make up the top five largest economies in the world. Having a guaranteed face-to-face slot in the Washington calendar is crucial and should be protected.

The Taoiseach of the day is welcomed into the White House each St Patrick’s week. However, beyond shamrocks and pleasantries, we must ask what does a continued hyper-focus on the US achieve?

When it comes exerting any sort of real influence at political level, Ireland is limited.

This was particularly evident this year, when Leo Varadkar — who had been called on to boycott the tradition over America’s continued support for Israel — travelled to the White House.

“We’re certainly not going to start with uncomfortable truths, we’ve a really good relationship with the US and we’ve a really good relationship with president Biden,” Mr Varadkar said when pressed on how far he might go in relating the significant Irish opposition to the US position on Gaza.

In recent years, successive taoisigh have used their time in the White House to lobby on behalf the thousands Irish living there.

This week, Mr Biden did announce new actions for people who have been in the US many years “to keep American families together and allow more young people to contribute to our economy”. As of yet, there has been no movement on a specific amnesty for the undocumented Irish, many of whom arrived in the US many years ago and stayed on beyond their visa.

However, the director of the Clinton Institute at UCD, Prof Liam Kennedy, suggests that the relationship may also be petering out on this side of the Atlantic. The Trump administration signified not just a distaste for a particular American president but a deeper disillusionment with the US, and perhaps the ending of a long romance.

“Certainly, it crystallised the distance we now are from the mythical moment of Kennedy’s visit in 1963,” Prof Kennedy said.

The outcome of November’s elections could therefore signal a new further departure in Irish-American relations

Emigration to the US steadily decreased each year during Trump’s presidency, going from 6,500 in 2017 down to 5,200 in 2019.

Young Irish people seeking out a new life, a career, or even a year of travel are looking to other destinations — from Dubai to Doha and onto New Zealand.

In the 12 months up to April 2023, some 4,900 people emigrated to America from Ireland, 5,300 moved to Canada, while 4,700 went to settle in Australia.

Britain remains the top destination for Irish people seeking out a life abroad, with 14,600 people leaving this country to live in Britain in the year up to April 2023.

Prof Kennedy also points to a “seismic paradigm shift in international relations”, which is resulting in the emergence of a new “post-American” world order. This is challenging long-held assumptions about international security and identity.

“Transatlantic relations between the US and Europe have long been viewed as a symbolic linchpin of the West.

“In recent years, however, the relationship has experienced drift as American interests turn to China, and even rupture with the Trump administration’s promotion of an America First agenda that spurned multilateral engagement with former European partners.”

As the world changes, so too must our view of and relationship with the US.