Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe. RollingNews.ie photo
By Irish Echo Staff
Once more with feeling as the saying goes.
Ireland's Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, will be renewing the already standing invitation for President Joe Biden to visit Ireland when he meets U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen this weekend.
Mr. Donohoe, according to an Irish Times report, will be attending a meeting of G7 finance ministers in London in his role as President of the Eurogroup of countries.
The meeting will focus on supporting the global economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic among other topics.
Mr. Donohoe, according to the Times report, will have his first face-to-face meeting with the Secretary Yellen having previously held talks with her via video link on St. Patrick’s Day.
Asked about renewing the invitation to Mr. Biden, Mr. Donohoe said there was a standing invitation to the president but he would be “re-extending” it.
“It would be great to see President Biden here in Ireland, and as he deepens his engagement in Europe I know he would be really welcome here,” Mr. Donohoe said.
He said he is looking forward to meeting Ms. Yellen and “extending an invitation for her to come here as well."
Taoiseach Micheál Martin invited the president to visit Ireland in his first conversation with him after his election victory last November.
Mr. Biden, whose Irish family roots are in counties Louth and Mayo, visited Ireland as vice president in 2016.
The president will be in Cornwall, England and Brussels in Belgium for a series of meetings later this month.
He will attend the G7 summit of leaders in Cornwall taking June 11-13 before traveling to Brussels for a NATO summit and an EU-U.S. leaders’ summit on June 14.
There has been speculation that Mr. Biden sill visit Ireland either on his way to or on his way back from his various engagements but there has been no confirmation to date of any possible Irish plans from the White House.
