Taoiseach to Receive International Leadership Award From Biden

Taoiseach Micheál Martin will be presented with an International Leadership Award by US President Joe Biden tonight.

The pair will meet at the Irish Funds fundraising gala in Washington DC.

The traditional annual visit of the Taoiseach to the US for St. Patrick's week has resumed this year, having been cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.

Martin will present Biden with a bowl of shamrock at a gala reception this evening and will himself be presented with the International Leadership Award. He has said he is looking forward to a "very pleasant" meeting of "one Irishman and another Irishman."

The pair will hold talks in the Whitehouse on Thursday, with the ongoing conflict in Ukraine expected to dominate the conversation.

"I think it will be important, the reaffirming and working through the relationship between the European Union and United States and how well that has worked in the context of this crisis," Martin said. "The president has been very strong in terms of the need for that multilateral system, in terms of the need for the restoration of the strong alliances. To be fair to the American government, they’ve called this right all along, in terms of their intelligence, sharing their intelligence in public, which in my view was impactful enough, and also working with EU countries in terms of sanctions."

"We also want to discuss the economic relationship between Ireland and the United States, which is a powerful relationship, not just in terms of the American multinationals that are present in Ireland, but also the number of Irish companies that are located in America, creating thousands and thousands of jobs in America," he added.