That’s because there can’t be, because of what he’s dealing with. Whether you’re for him or oppose him politically, I honestly believe we all know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Micheál Martin will never let his country down. The main thing in these situations is to live to fight another day. And if there’s one thing Micheál Martin understands, it’s about living to fight another day. He wouldn’t be there at all if he didn’t get that. I admit I was all ready to offer the Taoiseach reams of advice as he wakes up in Washington at the start of a high-risk day. All sorts of people are at it. I saw Bertie Ahern in another newspaper suggesting if Donald Trump started on one of his rants he should stare at the ceiling. Thanks, Bertie, we’ll call you if we need you. And of course, my own colleagues on the left want Trump kicked around the Oval Office. It would be lovely, but I’m afraid not too productive. Now, just like Bertie, I’ve been there before, after all. I wasn’t far away when Garret Fitzgerald met Ronald Reagan, and that wasn’t today or yesterday! I’ve been at meetings with Bill Clinton in the White House and elsewhere, and I once shook hands with both George Bush and Joe Biden (and Margaret Thatcher, but that’s a different story). Those encounters don’t qualify me as an expert, though I learned something from each of them. So I’d be pretending if I said I knew exactly what Micheál Martin should expect today, or what he should do. He does of course have wall-to-wall advice available to him should he want it, especially from our newspapers. More to the point, we have had a succession of outstanding ambassadors to the United States. I’ve known and worked with a lot of the more recent ones, and they are all outstanding. Our current ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason is exceptional. Nobody will or could do a better job in trying to anticipate what the world’s most unpredictable politician will do or say, or in helping the Taoiseach to be as ready as possible. I’m guessing everyone involved is hoping that the trip to the Oval Office will actually be a bit of a smiley non-event, with all sorts of references to Doonbeg Golf Club and (if he must) the Taoiseach extending a VIP invitation to the Ryder Cup in Adare in a couple of years. If all goes well and the shamrock gets handed over without incident later in the day, the Taoiseach can get on with the rest of his trip to the States. In the run-up to all this, a lot of people were speculating that we’d all be better off if this year the Patrick’s Day invitation to the White House got lost in the post. But in a funny sort of way, the tension around the Oval Office visit has given added value to the whole business of government leaders decamping to the States at this time of year. Priceless opportunity I’ve never understood the controversy that erupts around this every year. It’s a junket, it’s a waste of money, the Government should be sorting out problems at home. But every journalist who covers this annual trip knows three things. It’s unique — no other government in the entire world is guaranteed access like this, in good times and bad, at the highest levels of the US system. It’s hard work — far from being a junket or a jolly, the politicians involved will be on the go from morning till night, with no room for jet lag, And three, it’s priceless. You simply can’t put a value on how crucial the diplomatic, trade, commercial, political and cultural relationships are. The work done in the States this week alone, provided it’s done right (and we’ve always been very good at it) generates payback for years to come. None of that is to deny that there are hugely complicated issues staring us in the face. We could never agree with Donald Trump’s evident enthusiasm for the ethnic cleansing of two million Palestinian people in Gaza. And his flirtation (if not outright love affair) with Vladimir Putin in relation to Ukraine is a disgusting betrayal of core democratic values. Not to mention, of course, the possibility that he may be about to hit the world (and us?) with more of his mad tariffs. So there will be a maze of fine lines to be walked the minute the Taoiseach enters the Oval Office. He has the experience to do it and just needs a bit of luck. So good luck Taoiseach. Just get out of there in one piece and enjoy the rest of the week Neutrality debate I can’t finish this week without referring to some of the trouble I seem to have got myself into over last week’s column here on Irish neutrality. Social media went mad of course — for and against — but I specifically want to refer to two letters that were published here. One was from Marian Naughton in Naas. I don’t know her, but she made a strong and well-argued case against my point of view. I was grateful to read it, and it gave me pause for thought. The other was from Senator Tom Clonan, who told me I had denigrated the military service of others and suggested I should keep my “white feathers” to myself. (White feathers are regarded in most military cultures as a mark of cowardice, and that, I assume, is what he meant.) I’m not sure who he has accused me of denigrating. My grandfather was taken prisoner at the last battle of Ypres (in Belgium) in the First World War and died of the Spanish Flu just after eventually being released. My father, who believed in Irish neutrality all his life, nevertheless felt compelled to join the British army at the beginning of the Second World War to fight against Hitler, because he believed there was no choice. So, if I’m denigrating military service, I guess I’m denigrating theirs too, and them. As for cowardice, Senator Clonan may be right. I may be a coward for all I know. I was involved, often but not always alone, in several dangerous and frightening situations in Northern Ireland as part of (well-documented) work I did during the earlier and still violent stages of the Irish peace process. I can certainly remember being thoroughly frightened in certain houses, with certain people, and on certain dark country roads, and asking myself why the hell I had volunteered to do these jobs. But I did them anyway.