In honour of St Patrick, here’s a word from the Irish language that has wheeled itself into English as spoken in Ireland: plámás (pronounced plaugh mause). There is no exact equivalent in English, but it means strategic flattery, buffering someone’s ego with one’s own interest firmly in mind.
With a super ego back in charge of the world’s superpower, plámás has become an international diplomatic default. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s recent visit to the US was a highlight of his so far chequered leadership. A golden, Charlie Bucket envelope for Trump from King Charles, inviting him back for an “unprecedented” second state visit, did the trick. Safely back in London, Starmer could give warm consolatory hugs to the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky a few days later.
Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday.Credit: AP
Politically, St Patrick’s Day affords the Irish government an opportunity to exert its soft power around the globe, a chance to connect with the 70 million strong Irish diaspora. Senior government ministers hightail it around the world, including to Australia. The highlight is in Washington where, in long-established custom, the taoiseach [prime minister], currently Micheal Martin, presents a bowl of shamrock to the US president. The March visit affords access to the White House unmatched by any other country Ireland’s size.
This year, however, there was much trepidation and nervousness in Ireland before the visit, even speculation that the White House invitation would not be forthcoming. Ireland, for all its historical and cultural links to the US, embodies many of the foreign failings that Trump most excoriates. Ireland is an enthusiastic member (the only English-speaking one left) of the reviled European Union – set up “to take advantage of the United States”, according to Trump.
The republic has lured American companies, especially in technology and pharmaceuticals, that Trump would rather have at home. More recently, Ireland has been highly critical of America’s close ally Israel, leading to the closure of the Israeli embassy in Dublin.
Furthermore, Ireland does not pay much for its defence and has been accused of freeloading. Despite its official “neutrality”, and its tendency to make moral pronouncements on the international stage, it is one of the lowest spenders on its own military in Europe (0.2 to 0.3 per cent of GDP). By contrast, Switzerland, perhaps the most famous of all neutral countries, is armed to the teeth.
International leaders, Irish and Australian alike, are learning how to handle Trump Mark II and, in both countries, that relationship has quickly become a domestic political football. Just as Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese are sparring over who would best handle the American leader, the mainly left-wing Irish opposition parties have condemned the taoiseach for his sycophancy.
Sinn Féin, now the main opposition party, boycotted the Washington St Patrick’s event this year, in protest about Trump’s proposals to ethnically cleanse Gaza. That left only the Unionist DUP to represent the Northern Irish electorate. Paradoxically, Sinn Féin were there in force last year, despite Joe Biden’s military support for Israel’s “genocidal” bombing of the strip.