What does it mean to be Irish? And how do we relate to the rest of the world? Those are the questions that arise from Joe Biden’s visit.
The Irish State was founded on a foreign policy forged during the First World War. After the 1916 Rising the people decided they would cease to be the cannon-fodder for Britain’s Imperial wars in the meat-grinders of France, Belgium and Turkey. The sentiment was best expressed in the famous song about the Rising.
Right proudly high over Dublin town they hung out the flag of war
'Twas better to die ‘neath an Irish sky than at Sulva or Sud-El-Bar
In the course of the twentieth century the State garnered considerable prestige among countries in Africa and Asia because of its struggle against British imperialism. Irish missionaries contributed to the education of vast swathes of the developing world. They were motivated by religious reasons rather than an economic interest.
Perhaps Biden had this in mind when he referred to the “moral authority†which Ireland carries with nations around the world. This “moral authority†must be worth something! He must be aware that the US is losing ground to Russia and China in what is now called the global south.
But does Ireland still have that moral authority? It has on occasion supported the Palestinians, but other than that it has rarely if ever been in conflict with American interests.
Our political leaders were quiet over America’s invasion of Iraq and have been shrill in their support of its war in Ukraine. They do not share the scepticism of the “global south†regarding American intentions.
The legacy of our Catholic missionaries has been dissipated. All that work by Catholic idealists counts for nothing. It was part of a “narrower†Ireland from which we have now escaped. It was buried a few years ago in a documentary broadcast by the State television service called Mission to Prey. The fact that the allegations in the documentary were a pack of lies is beside the point. The point is that the State wanted them to be true.
But with what have we replaced this legacy? Our current values do not appear to be an evolution of what went before. On the contrary, they represent an escape or rupture from the past. As has been pointed out in this magazine, there has been a moral collapse. We now, apparently, are in the vanguard of American liberalism regarding feminism and LGBT rights. It is doubtful that many Irish people or politicians believe in any of this, but they don’t have the moral resources to oppose it.
It is certain that many African countries don’t take to the new line. They prefer the values of a previous generation of Irish people. And such countries that recoiled from communism are more amenable to the values of Putin’s Russia.
In truth our relationship with the US Empire has been far more benign than that with the previous pre-eminent Power. We haven’t experienced massacres, religious oppression or famine under American hegemony. The American connection has seen a powerful and politically influential Irish diaspora arise in the US, which has driven benign US policies towards Ireland, both economic and political. Ireland’s economic relations with the US were critical to it escaping its impoverished state within the British market trap, and to it becoming its current affluent self. The personnel of the Irish professional and managerial classes have integrated and become interchangeable with that of the US, further driving Irish affluence.
Nor have we been obliged to fight American’s wars . . . at least not yet.
Biden praised Ireland’s honourable record of UN peacekeeping. But, of course the definition of peacekeeping may change! There has been talk of putting NATO 'peacekeepers' in Ukraine. The Russians have indicated that such 'peacekeepers', occupying contested territory, can only be considered enemy combatants. It seems unlikely that Irish troops will find themselves in the Ukrainian meat-grinder, but it is not inconceivable.
Biden's anti-British rhetoric - of a type few Irish politicians would dare utter, while silently loving it - was warmly received by his Irish audience much to the chagrin of the British media. Perhaps, in the post-Brexit era Britain's usefulness for the US has diminished?
As we go to print, it has been announced that the State will have a budget surplus of over 10 billion euro. Corporation taxes will reach 20 billion (mostly from American multinationals). The population in the Republic exceeds 5 million for the first time since the 'Famine'. We have full employment and net immigration.
We have come a long way in economic terms, but in some ways we are much poorer.
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