The Government will launch a charm offensive on the United States this St Patrick’s Day.
It’s sending the Taoiseach, Tanaiste and eight Ministers to America to build relationships under the Donald Trump administration.
Waterford's Mary Butler will visit Denmark and Sweden while John Cummins is off to Thailand and the Philippines.
37 Ministers, the Chairs of the Dail and Seanad and the Attorney General will all head off on St Patrick’s Day trips across the World.
10 of these will go to the US with the Taoiseach heading to Washington and Texas and the Tanaiste off to New York and Philadelphia.
Elswhere Paschal Donohoe will go to Germany, Helen McEntee is off to Australia and James Browne is off to China.
The Opposition has raised questions about the American trips – with Richard Boyd Barrett from People Before Profit saying Ireland shouldn’t bend the knee to Donald Trump who he described as a bully.
In the midst of all these trips, every year one Minister has to stay at home to steer the ship if something goes wrong.
That person this year is Michael Healy Rae.
Ministers travelling to the United States:
- Taoiseach Micheál Martin - Texas and Washington DC
- Tánaiste Simon Harris - Philadelphia and New York
- Darragh O'Brien - Miami and Los Angeles
- Peter Burke - Boston and New Hampshire
- Dara Calleary - Atlanta and Savannah
- Patrick O'Donovan - Seattle and San Francisco
- Jennifer Carroll MacNeill - UN Commission on the Status of Women, New York and Chicago
- Attorney General - Rossa Fanning Michigan and Montana
- Alan Dillon - Utah (and Vancouver in Canada)
Ministers travelling to other locations:
- Paschal Donohoe - Germany
- Jack Chambers - Chile and Argentina
- Norma Foley - London
- Helen McEntee - Australia
- Jim O'Callaghan - Italy, Holy See and Malta
- James Browne - China
- James Lawless - India
- Mary Butler - Denmark and Sweden
- Hildegarde Naughton - Japan
- Noel Grealish - Vietnam and Cambodia
- Sean Canney - Brazil
- Thomas Byrne - France
- Charlie McConalogue - Colombia
- Kevin Boxer Moran - Portugal
- Emer Higgins - Western Australia
- Robert Troy - Czech Republic
- Neale Richmond - Kenya and Tanzania
- Jerry Buttimer - New Zealand
- John Cummins - Thailand and the Philippines
- Christopher O'Sullivan - Norway and Poland
- Kieran O'Donnell - Cardiff and Manchester
- Jennifer Murnane O'Connor - Greece and Cyprus
- Niall Collins - Mexico
- Niamh Smyth - Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
- Timmy Dooley - Canada
- Colm Brophy - Spain
- Marian Harkin - Netherlands & Belgium
Other visits:
- Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy - Switzerland
- Cathaoirleach Seanad (TBC) - Edinburgh
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