A ‘unique relationship’?—Ireland and the USA 1920–present
Sep 04, 12:30 AM
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A ‘unique relationship’?—Ireland and the USA 1920–present
(Recorded live on Fri 28 Aug ’26 @ the Electric Picnic)
While the UK claims to have a ‘special relationship’ with the USA, we claim a ‘unique relationship’, exemplified by the now-traditional bowl of shamrock presentation in the White House each St Patrick’s Day. But the relationship hasn’t always been cordial: Dev failed to get recognition of the Irish Republic from the US government in 1920; the biggest threat to our neutrality during the Emergency came not from the Nazis or the British but from the USA; and today by far the biggest source of toxic far-right misinformation and disinformation is the USA.
(Recorded live on Fri 28 Aug ’26 @ the Electric Picnic)
While the UK claims to have a ‘special relationship’ with the USA, we claim a ‘unique relationship’, exemplified by the now-traditional bowl of shamrock presentation in the White House each St Patrick’s Day. But the relationship hasn’t always been cordial: Dev failed to get recognition of the Irish Republic from the US government in 1920; the biggest threat to our neutrality during the Emergency came not from the Nazis or the British but from the USA; and today by far the biggest source of toxic far-right misinformation and disinformation is the USA.
Editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Dan Mulhall (former Irish Ambassador in Washington DC), Bernadette Whelan (UL), and John Gibney and Michael Kennedy (both RIA’s Documents on Irish Foreign Policy series).