However, though the two men will still meet, the reception part of the evening has been postponed due to Hurricane Milton, a category 5 storm which is expected to make landfall on the Florida coast at around the time the reception was due to take place.

There has already been widespread devastation on the east coast of the US due to Hurricane Helene recently, with more than 200 deaths reported.

The US government response to that disaster has been strongly criticised by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. 

Though many of Donald Trump’s allegations have since been shown to be false, a diplomatic reception involving Mr Biden at the same time as a hurricane hitting Florida would have been a PR disaster — particularly given how divisive the presidential election campaign has become.

Mr Biden is not the only one with an eye to how events can be perceived at election time. 

Ireland may not officially be in the grip of general election fever, but Mr Harris will be keenly aware of the potential boost of a photo opportunity with Mr Biden, however brief. 

He will be equally cognisant of the opportunity lost by missing out on the reception in the Rose Garden, however.

It will be interesting to see what benefit the visit to the US has had, considering Mr Biden will soon make way as US president and Mr Harris will shortly call an election.

The last Irish-American president will have had the chance to set right some of the claims made by former British prime minister Boris Johnson over the legitimacy of his Irish heritage, sure, but was that worth the cost to taxpayers?

The diplomatic connections to America which have been maintained by Ireland over decades are invaluable, clearly, but as the president deals with what were expected to be catastrophic circumstances from Hurricane Milton overnight, as well as the escalating conflict in the Middle East, the photo opportunity couldn’t have come at a worse time.

Junior cycle: Preparing for a sterner test

Yesterday saw the arrival of the Junior Certificate results, one of the traditional markers of a child’s progress through school.

It is also a major event for schools all over Ireland. 

Almost 73,000 students at schools across the country collected their results, with schools distributing almost 650,000 grades in 22 individual subjects.

For those with an eye to long-term trends and patterns, the percentage of students receiving ‘distinction’ marks slipped across almost all subjects this year. 

The percentage of students receiving between 90% to 100% on their papers ranged from 2.6% in English, for instance, to 7.9% in Italian.

The day is long gone when what was then called an Intermediate Certificate was a valid qualification for employment in a less competitive working environment. 

Generations of Irish people finished school long before the Leaving Certificate, with many of them leaving education through sheer economic necessity.

The introduction of free secondary education by Donogh O’Malley in 1969 made the ‘Leaving’ an achievable objective for more people, but it meant that obsolescence for the Intermediate Certificate was practically guaranteed.

In that sense, the junior cycle may strike many as an anachronism with little to recommend it, but there are rational arguments in its favour. 

It provides a general grounding to students, one they can use to base decisions on the specific direction they wish to take with their studies.

As an examination experience, it prepares students and gives them a sense of how to prepare for, and what to expect, in the Leaving Certificate, a series of examinations of far more consequence for their futures. 

In that sense, it strips away any mystique surrounding a State examination and, in theory, should free up students to express themselves freely when they sit the Leaving Certificate a couple of years later.

Congratulations to all who received their results.

Anonymous donation: Pure generosity

Some welcome news as we learned that an anonymous good Samaritan has donated what is believed to be over half a million euro to a variety of Cork schools and charities.

Four Cope Foundation schools, which cater for children and teens with additional needs, are among the recipients of this extraordinary windfall, with the unknown donor giving each of them €50,000.

They are not the only organisations to benefit from this extraordinary generosity. 

The others include the Cork Arc Cancer Support House; the Irish Wheelchair Association; Pieta Cork; Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind; St Killian’s School, Old Youghal Rd, Mayfield; Cork City Missing Persons Search and Recovery; and Blood Bikes.

Although these organisations are different in their focus and objectives, they all share a commitment to making a difference in their communities, to helping people and to improving their quality of life. 

The generosity of these donations will be hugely helpful to these organisations and will therefore be beneficial to many members of the community.

Solicitor Simon Murphy, a partner at JRAP O’Meara based on MacCurtain St, had the job of distributing the donations; he confirmed that the donor does not wish to be identified.

The anonymous donator deserves the gratitude of all. 

Their personal generosity is extraordinary, and their modesty in declining the spotlight extraordinarily moving.