New York, New York
The US St. Patrick's Day festivities are always guaranteed to provide some interesting combinations of people and this year was no exception. The Fitzpatrick Manahattan hotel has been playing host to Brian Cowen, MicheΓ΅l Martin, Martin McGuinness, Margaret Ritchie and both Ian Paisleys (the older one is about to embark on a preaching tour of South Carolina). Which could make for some interesting conversations over the rice crispies this morning.
Martin McGuinness is due to attend an announcement tomorrow from the of another multi million dollar fund earmarked for Northern Ireland. Before anyone starts jumping for joy it's worth noting that the Emerald Fund, launched with much hoopla last year, has yet to spend a cent on the ground in Northern Ireland.
Peter Robinson has given New York a by ball and is heading to Washington D.C. via Chicago where he's been meeting US firms who employ people back at home, like All State. In California the top two had talks with the film companies like HBO and Universal. Although there were no solid announcements there seems to be confidence that some NI film projects remain on track.
Tomorrow the focus moves to Washington D.C. where the American Ireland Fund is holding its Then on Tuesday Brian Cowen and the First and Deputy First are due to get their meetings with President Obama. The White House is holding a reception for 300 people this year. The word is that in contrast to some previous events it's not going to be almost exclusively Irish American but will have a strong representation from across America's many ethnic groups.
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