The US President, Joe Biden, held a videoconference meeting on Thursday with the Irish Prime Minister, present in Washington on the occasion of the popular Irish holiday of St. Patrick but confined after testing positive for a covid-19 test.
Biden, who often recalls his Irish family origins, spoke with Michael Martin, who was in a guest residence very close to the White House, through a large screen installed in the Oval Office.
To journalists, Joe Biden said he was “really sorry” that he could not receive the Irish Prime Minister in person.
It also welcomed Ireland's contribution to the Western response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Martin praised the US president's ability to “unite democracies” against the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The face-to-face meeting was canceled and replaced by the videoconference after Martin tested positive for covid-19 on Wednesday in Washington, although the White House clarified that the US president has not been affected.
In addition, the White House also announced the suspension of the annual St. Patrick's Day ceremony in which the Irish Prime Minister presents the President of the United States with a bowl of clover grown in Ballinskelligs, in southwest Ireland.
This time, instead, Biden will “participate in a St. Patrick's Day event” without his Irish guest, government spokesmen explained.
On Wednesday night, Martin was photographed sitting next to the Speaker of the House of Representatives (Lower), Democrat Nancy Pelosi, at the Irish Funds Gala event at the National Construction Museum in Washington. But soon after that he withdrew, due to the positive result of a PCR test.
Biden was at the same dinner, but a White House official said that the president was not considered to be at risk and that he had not been tested.
“It's not a close contact,” so the testing protocol would not change, the official said.
Biden had been tested for covid-19 on Sunday for the last time and tested negative, said his spokesperson, Jen Psaki.
A spokesman for the Irish government earlier argued that Martin's positive test followed two negative tests, including one on Wednesday.
Martin, who is staying at the White House guest facility, “feels good and is currently in isolation for public health advice,” according to the Irish government.
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