NEW YORK may be brought to a standstill on St Patrick's Day but it is getting pretty crowded in Washington too. President Bill Clinton is giving a lunch at which the Taoiseach John Bruton will be guest of honour and that evening he will host a reception for the leading lights in the Irish community. That will be followed by a reception in the Irish embassay.
All as usual, you might say, but now the British are getting in on the day" too and their ambassador, Sir John Kerr, is throwing his own St Patrick's Day party - a lunch for 100-plus. Certain British sources are putting it about that this entertainment is aimed at rivalling the official St Patrick's Day events at the White, House and Irish embassy.
Not so, says the spokesman at the British embassy, Robert Chatterton-Dixon (both his parents were born in Ireland, southern part). Sir John had a large lunch last year to mark St Patrick's Day and is planning a similar one this year. The guests will include the Northern Ireland contingent who will be in town. Last year it was John Hume, Lord Alderdice, David Trimble and Mo Mowlam.
This year it is hoped an NIO minister, maybe Sir Patrick Mayhew, will attend. Senators and Congressmen with Irish connections will also make the list and the spokesman points out that the lunch will not clash with the Irish embassy evening reception. "We definitely do not want to be seen as a rival to the Irish embassy. We see these occasions as complementary, as they involve both parts of Ireland. Any suggestions that we are trying to,, upstage the Irish embassy are wrong.