Mary Kenny“The world is what it is, and it’s interesting – even droll – to watch the reconfiguration of power politics with a shift in power” writes Mary Kenny
It is now widely agreed that Irish politicians need to stop complaining about Donald Trump and the Republican party and start building bridges with the new regime. Bertie Ahern, wise old owl, has recommended this pragmatic course of action, and it seems that he has been heeded.
Problem is, the Irish political class have almost no connections with the American Republican party. All their strategic eggs have been placed in the Democratic basket.
I have observed, in these pages that although Paul Ryan, the powerful speaker of the House of Representatives, has always declared how proud he is to be an Irish-American, the Irish political class – and the mainstream media too – have never made much of Mr Ryan’s Irish links: probably because he is ‘right-wing’ – and an observant Catholic.
Heaven forbid you should be a conservative, or ‘right-wing’, among the liberal elite!
Major connection
Our own Brahmin caste have now discovered that Vice-President Elect Mike Pence has Irish grandparents on both sides of his family. He holidays in Ireland frequently. So Mr Pence – who has not been on the Irish radar until now – will be a major connection at the White House for the Irish political class.
Mike Pence is not only Irish on both sides of his family. He is also a committed Christian – describing himself as a “postmodern Catholic Evangelical Conservative”. That is, he was raised a Catholic but he has embraced many of the values of the Evangelical Christian movements. Some might describe that as being a Protestant sort of Catholic.
Ecumenical
Some might call that being enthusiastically ecumenical. And some might call it ‘right-wing’. Mr Pence is also fully supportive of the pro-life movement. Oh-oh. RTÉ is not going to like that.
The world is what it is, and it’s interesting – even droll – to watch the reconfiguration of power politics with a shift in power. Donald Trump was, until last week, the worst in the world: British parliamentarians debated whether he should be banned from entering the UK: Scottish nationalists said he shouldn’t be allowed access to his ancestral Scottish home: and Enda Kenny added his own voices of disparagement. (For the record, I’m no fan of Mr Trump’s attitudes myself.)
The only folks who had a good word to say were the employees of Doonbeg in Co. Clare who reported that he was always nice to them and had provided the area with much employment.
So the Irish political machine is now seeking to oil the wheels of commerce and connection with the new Trump regime. Especially via Mike Pence, who will be an unusually important vice-president – being, unlike Mr Trump, an experienced politician, governor and congressman.
Yet the connection that they’re looking for is staring them straight in the eye: it’s the Catholic connection. Mike Pence and Paul Ryan are not only Irish-Americans: they are Catholic Irish-Americans.
The Irish political class, who have been so eager to disassociate themselves from Catholic Ireland, so emblematically represented by Eamon Gilmore’s closure of Ireland’s diplomatic mission to the Holy See, may now have to revive the heritage they tried so hard to discard.
Compromising on cribs
There’s been something of a ‘culture war’ in France over the appearance of Christmas cribs in ‘official’ buildings. Hard-line secularists have been seeking a state ban on the appearance of the Christmas Nativity and last year, in the Paris region of Seine-et-Marne, the Nativity crib was thus prohibited.
In the Nantes region, traditionally more Catholic (and royalist, incidentally), the crib was permitted in a council office on grounds that it was a “tradition relating to the family preparation for Christmas”.
The Council of State, which rules on constitutional matters, has now produced a judgement that the Nativity may be permitted as a cultural artefact, but not as an open symbol of worship.
Interesting compromise.
The Ecclesiastical Capital
Armagh is a very good choice of location for meetings between Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster.
Armagh is the ecclesiastical capital of the island of Ireland – both Catholic and Church of Ireland – with a legendary connection to St Patrick.
It is all-Ireland in an historic and faith sense without – we hope – raising sensitive political hackles.