merrion street

The Taoiseach will travel to Washington DC as guest of President Obama at the White House again this year as part of an extensive St. Patrick’s Day Programme. While in Washington, he will attend the traditional Speaker’s lunch on Capitol Hill and attend a breakfast meeting with Vice President Biden as well as participate in a number of meetings with political and business leaders and the Irish-American community. He will also give a key note address in George Washington University where he will be awarded the University’s ‘Making Democracy Work’ Award.

The Taoiseach’s main focus during his US visit will be to highlight the very significant progress made towards Ireland’s economic recovery and in particular Ireland’s improved competitiveness in the two years since his Government took office. He will emphasise Ireland’s strengths as a location for foreign direct investment and overseas visitors, and promote Irish companies as a source of high quality products and services.

Ahead of his visit to Washington DC, the Taoiseach will travel to New York where he will attend the St. Patrick’s Day parade and related celebrations. He will also visit The Rockaways area in Queens which was ravaged by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. The Taoiseach will also meet with Mayor Bloomberg in New York.

The Taoiseach's US programme will also include Los Angeles, Silicon Valley and Seattle on the West Coast where his engagements will include a series of meetings with existing and potential corporate investors in Ireland as well as indigenous Irish companies operating in the US. While In Los Angeles, he will also seek to highlight opportunities to attract further film investment to Ireland.

Commenting on his programme, the Taoiseach said:

The Government has made very significant progress in restoring Ireland’s reputation as a location for investment and trade since we came to office two years ago. I very much welcome the opportunity to travel to the United States again this year for St. Patrick’s Day where I will use my visit to promote Ireland’s many strengths and to further reinforce our deep and abiding political and economic relationship with the United States. I look forward to meeting with President Obama again in the White House this year. I am pleased that this visit comes at a time when, under Ireland’s EU Presidency, we are working to secure a mandate to launch negotiations on an EU-US Free Trade Agreement.