White House confirms Biden-Varadkar meeting next week after Taoiseach says it would be ‘big mistake’ to boycott

US president Joe Biden and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will discuss the crisis in Middle East, Ukraine and Northern Ireland at meetings surrounding St Patrick’s Day next week in Washington, the White House has said.

The announcement came after Mr Varadkar told the Dáil it would be a “big mistake” for an Irish government to boycott the annual White House event because of concerns about American foreign policy over Israel and Palestine.

A statement on Tuesday evening from Mr Biden’s administration set out various issues on the agenda for the traditional St Patrick’s Day visit beginning on March 15th.

The two leaders would discuss their shared commitment to the continued support of Ukraine “in the face of Russia’s brutal aggression”, a White House spokesman said. Other issues would include co-ordination on the Middle East and a reaffirmation of “steadfast support” for the Good Friday Agreement, as well as a welcome acknowledgment of the recent restoration of Northern Ireland’s Executive and Assembly.

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“President Joe Biden will host Taoiseach Leo Varadkar of Ireland, for a bilateral meeting, followed by a St Patrick’s Day Celebration at the White House on March 17th, continuing a long-standing St Patrick’s Day tradition.

“The leaders will reaffirm the close and enduring partnership between the United States and Ireland and the extraordinary bonds between our people.”

Separately, US vice-president Kamala Harris and her husband Douglas Emhoff are to host the Taoiseach and Matthew Barrett, Mr Varadkar’s partner, for a breakfast at the Naval Observatory on March 15th.

Earlier, Mr Varadkar told the Dáil he would use the opportunity in public and private to make clear how Irish people feel about the situation in Gaza, and that the US should adopt an approach that will “help to bring about a peace settlement in the region”.

Mr Varadkar was responding to Solidarity TD Mick Barry during Leaders’ Questions, who said the Taoiseach was planning to give a bowl of shamrock and pose for photographs with “a man who has armed and financed mass murder”.

Mr Barry said this was wrong, and that he was confident “large numbers of people on this island think it is wrong also”. The Cork North Central TD said the Taoiseach had the opportunity to “exert some real pressure” and to tell US president Joe Biden there would be “no shamrock when there is not a total ceasefire and an end to the bloody occupation” in Gaza.

The Taoiseach said he did not believe in boycotts, and it had never been the approach he had taken to international affairs. “It is an opportunity to speak to leaders in the US, on the Hill, and also president Biden and vice president (Kamala) Harris,” Mr Varadkar said.

“We’re one of only 200 countries in the world, there are not many countries in the world that are guaranteed a meeting once a year. It would be a big mistake for us to boycott that and to lose that important engagement that occurs every year since the 1980s.

“But I will use the opportunity, both in private in the Oval Office and in public in the White House, to make clear how the Irish people feel about the situation in Gaza and how we believe the US needs and ought to adopt an approach that will help to bring about a peace settlement in the region.”

The Fine Gael leader said he would also reaffirm the importance of Ireland’s economic, political and cultural relationship with the US, “but also to say that there are issues on which we disagree”.

Mr Varadkar said to boycott the event next week would mean the slot was “lost”, which was “easily transferred to another country and may never return again”.

“We would diminish our influence in the world if we refuse to meet people and refuse to engage with them, including and particularly allies and friends like the US,” he said.

Mr Barry also said the points he was making applied to Government representatives and all parties in the Oireachtas. “No party in this House, in our view, should attend a celebration with Joe Biden while this Israeli terror campaign is being waged, and that applies to Sinn Féin as much as it applies to Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party.”

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