Ireland’s Prime Minister Reacts to Biden’s Inauguration

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: What does an Irish American president — obviously, he is not the first — but what does this mean for Ireland today.

MICHEAL MARTIN, IRISH PRIME MINISTER: Well, first of all, it is a source of great pride in Ireland that the great-grandson of an Irish immigrant and Irish immigrants has become president of the United States, of the United States of America, a great democracy. And there was genuine elation and joy at his elevation this week across the country. There’s also a genuine sense of warmth towards President Biden. People really do appreciate the warmth that he radiates for Ireland in all of his commentary, and, indeed, in his regular quotations of Irish poets. And indeed, in the aftermath of his success in the election, he spoke to me very warmly, affectionately, almost emotionally about his heritage and the lessons and values that came down through the generations of an Irish household in Scranton. And he speaks very fondly of both county Louth in Ireland and County Mayo, where both maternal and paternal great-grandparents came from. And there just was — there is a genuineness there. There’s a real decency there that comes across. And I think that is very much appreciated by all generations in Ireland.

AMANPOUR: Very quickly, and, personally, I wanted to ask you. Obviously, there’s always an eagerness to be the first international head of state to meet the American president, head of government. Do you think you will be the first? Are you going to Ireland — to the White House, rather, for St. Patrick’s Day in March?

MARTIN: Well, there had been no decisions made in relation to that. I did invite President Biden to Ireland. And he rather jokingly said to me, “Try and keep me out.” But in relation to Patrick’s Day, of course, that’s an honored tradition in Ireland — sorry — in the relationship between Ireland and the United States. Obviously, COVID may very well have an impact on that. So our officials will engage. And we will do what’s safe and what’s best. And — but I do think both of us are very keen to cement that very historic relationship between the United States of America and Ireland, which goes back through the ages now. It’s an important relationship. In the modern era, it has cultural and artistic manifestations. It has economic manifestations. And, of course, in the context of Ireland’s membership of the European Union, we do see ourselves very much as potential bridge-builders between the U.S. and the European Union.