Taoiseach Micheál Martin should go to Washington DC for the traditional St Patrick’s Day meeting in the White House, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has said.
“The Taoiseach should go in a manner which is safe,” Mr Coveney said.
Mr Martin would not pose a public health threat to US president Joe Biden, he added.
The Taoiseach would observe strict testing protocols before, during and after the visit, said Mr Coveney.
It was not yet clear whether Mr Martin would be required to be vaccinated before making the trip, he added. “I don’t have a clear answer to that.”
Meanwhile, Mr Coveney also told of how shocked and surprised he and the Government were when they heard about the European Commission’s proposal to trigger Article 16 of the Northern Ireland protocol.
“When we got the call we were completely taken aback,” the Minister said. Both he and the Taoiseach “were on the phone all Friday evening” to ensure that the decision was reversed.
Mr Coveney said he suspected that “someone didn’t understand the protocol,” and that what had happened had been “deeply out of character” and had been “such a surprise to us.”
Mr Coveney said he believed Michel Barnier would have been very surprised by the decision, as he had spent four and a half years trying to solve the difficult issues of Brexit involving the island of Ireland.
The Minister said he was not interested in blaming people for the decision, but he hoped that lessons had been learned.
On Friday evening he had spoken with UK cabinet office minister Michael Gove and the Taoiseach had spoken with UK prime minister Boris Johnson, asking for a few hours to sort out the situation.
To put the issue in context, Mr Coveney said, when Boris Johnson had mentioned revoking Article 16 it had not been as dramatic, but when the Commission President had done so it had triggered “a very serious response”.
