Irish Examiner view: In the Trump era, our politicians will have to develop a thick skin
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The rearranging of table plans currently taking place around the capitals of Europe before the accession of Donald Trump to the White House gathers pace daily.
The acknowledgement by Simon Harris that Ireland must strengthen its embassies in Washington and Brussels is placed in the context of being able to play a “constructive” role in easing potential tensions between the EU and the new administration.
But the reality may be more self-interested than that. The previous Irish government did a passable impersonation of being more simpatico with the Democrats than the Republicans. Ireland has skin in the game when it comes to corporate tax changes and any attempts to repatriate US company profits back over the Atlantic.
Issues over illegal immigration — the 47th president committed to deport a million people annually in his election campaign — may bite. One legal expert said last month that undocumented Irish people in the US could represent “low-hanging fruit” in the programme.
Ireland contributes little financially to the collective defence of Europe and, even though Trump might understand the concept of neutrality, he could argue that Dublin cannot be an outspoken advocate of EU policies without putting more on the table to ensure stability and safety.
Even on Palestine, which has become our Government’s signature foreign policy, there will not be consensus on statehood recognition or the involvement of the International Criminal Court.
Harris, who could become our next foreign minister, will have to deal closely with Trump and his appointees, including Edward Walsh, the businessman from New Jersey with a background in construction who has been nominated as US ambassador to Ireland.
At least Harris does not have a record of bad-mouthing the next resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, unlike key appointments made by our next-door neighbours.
Westminster’s new ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, who was Tony Blair’s Northern Ireland minister for 14 months, has previously described Trump as a “danger to the world” and “little short of a white nationalist and racist”. This drew the response from a senior Trump campaign adviser that Mandelson was “an absolute moron”.
This is not a promising start for the man who is thought to be a close ally of Morgan McSweeney, the Macroom-born chief of staff for British prime minister Keir Starmer.
But it will have been noted by ambitious Irish politicians who will be combing back copies of interviews, looking up previous speech notes, and re-running old TV and radio interviews and podcasts for their views on the Donald, and making a note to selves that the prime quality for the next few years will be a thick skin, something, perhaps, Harris has yet to develop.
The massive lightning strike which destroyed the timber spire of Ruan Church and knocked out the village’s electricity was an eloquent pre-Christmas reminder that nature has an array of threats in its armoury, and that we know more about some than others.
A “huge flash of lightning” and a “massive bang” were seen and heard across a wide area of Clare at around 3.45am yesterday. Fire crews deployed a hydraulic platform to tackle the blaze and prevent it spreading to the rest of the building. There were reports that electricity poles and transformers were struck and a house set on fire in nearby Toormore.
Although we imagine that lightning is a rare event, new and higher-quality data indicates otherwise, with figures showing that it takes place 44.5 times a second over the entire Earth, a total of some 1.4bn flashes a year.
Of course, it now has its own tracking app. A real-time, collaborative, detection map is available at Blitzortung.org and lists the Irish monitors involved. While Ireland is usually associated with rain and windstorms, we do have our own lightning storms, as the people of Clare can attest from yesterday morning, although these are less frequent than in the rest of Europe and more typically confined to the summer.
Perhaps that is just as well, given misunderstandings about the dangers of electrical storms, with the greatest myth being that you are 100% safe inside a house. That is true as long as you avoid anything which conducts electricity. And stay away from windows.
Until the late 18th century, it was commonly believed that ringing church bells could repel lightning, with the result that hundreds of bell-ringers were killed, until it was realised that being within a high tower pulling a lump of metal wasn’t the best strategy. Happily, no such demands were made of the bell-ringers of Clare.
The soft power struggle for control of the English Premier League moved decisively in favour of American venture capitalists this week with the conclusion of the long-running takeover of Everton Football Club by the Friedkin Group for €500m.
Organisations which are either wholly, or mainly, headquartered in the US now have charge of 10 out of 20 elite clubs.
In comparison, there is Arab money in three teams — Aston Villa, Manchester City, and Newcastle; Asian money in Leicester and Fulham; Chinese backing of Wolverhampton Wanderers, and a Greek owner of Nottingham Forest. In other words, 50% of teams have non-English ownership. Twenty-five years ago, that figure was three.
Everton are one of the league’s oldest clubs, founded in 1878, and will be leaving historic Goodison Park for a €1bn new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock in Vauxhall, Merseyside at the end of this season.
The new owners, based in Houston, Texas, also have a controlling interest in Serie A team Roma.
The club’s chairman, a flamboyant figure, has been a producer on well-known films including and and won a stunt award by landing his own Spitfire on the beach in the film . He also has wide ranging wildlife interests and owns a luxury lodge and private park on the Serengeti in Tanzania.
If that all sounds a bit Hollywood for the Gwladys St End, fans will be pleased to see an ownership — whatever its origin — which will bring some sense of strategy and direction to a club that has been in the doldrums for many years.