Agency Report

A planned Saint Patrick’s Day meeting at the White House between Joe Biden and Ireland’s prime minister Micheal Martin was canceled Thursday after Martin tested positive for Covid-19, although the US president was said to be in no danger.

The planned Oval Office meeting between Martin and Biden was dropped for a video-link session after the Irish leader, whose position is known as the Taoiseach, had to pull out.

The White House also canceled an annual Saint Patrick’s Day ceremony where the Irish premier presents the US president with a bowl of shamrock grown in Ballinskelligs, southwest Ireland. Instead, Biden will “host a St Patrick’s Day event” without the Taoiseach, the White House said.

Late Wednesday, Martin was pictured sitting next to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the Ireland Funds Gala event at the National Building Museum in Washington. He left shortly after, due to a positive PCR test.

Biden was at the same dinner, but a White House official said that Biden was not considered to have been at risk and hadn’t been tested.

“He is not a close contact, so testing cadence would not change,” the official said.

An Irish government spokesman said Martin’s positive test followed two negative tests, including one earlier Wednesday.

“A further test was carried out when one of the Taoiseach’s delegation received a positive test, which resulted in a later positive result for the Taoiseach,” the spokesman said.

Ireland’s ambassador to the United States Daniel Mulhall tweeted that he had given the Taoiseach’s speech for him after he left Wednesday’s dinner and “I wish the Taoiseach well for his recovery.”

In his own speech at the gala, Biden spoke of his Irish roots, saying “I inherited my mother’s side of the family’s overwhelming pride, overwhelming pride in being Irish.”

Martin, who is staying at the White House guest facilities, Blair House, “is feeling well and is currently self-isolating on public health advice,” the Irish government said.

It was unclear how his positive result will affect the rest of his schedule in the US or his return to Ireland, which will on Sunday hold a national day of remembrance to commemorate those who died during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This is the second high-profile Covid positive case close to Biden in just days.

On Tuesday, the White House said that Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, had a positive test, but that Harris and Biden were unaffected.

AFP