Erin Go Barack

Just in time for the evening news, An Taoiseach Enda Kenny will present President Barack O'Bama with the traditional gift of shamrocks in a lovely crystal bowl. Where the bowl will come from is hard to say, since Waterford Crystal shut down the plant and moved production to Poland.

There'll be lunch with Congressman John Boehner, and then there will be the awkward pauses.

The U.S. House just passed a bill that eliminates the International Fund for Ireland, and at a time when Ireland is truly desperate for money.

$15 million dollars is a significant sum for a country that's on the financial skids.

A severe case of bad timing, you'd have to say. Since 1985, the U.S. has sent money to Ireland to bolster the peace at the border. While all the guns have yet to go away, it's far more peaceful now than it was then, and the U.S. is just about as skint as Ireland. For several Congressmen, it's an easy place to start trimming.

Mr. O'Bama was willing to cut, not eradicate, but now that the damage is done he has to face Mr. Kenny with a smile and accept a gift when all he can give in return is bad news.

In tough times, it's a mistake to rely on government.

Look back and you won't see Eamonn de Valera begging the U.S. Congress to give his fledgling Irish Free State a few million in start-up money. He went straight to the people, the descendants of the Irish diaspora, and asked them to contribute. They did, and generously, in spite of their own meagre circumstances.

With governments all over the world looking to cut expenses, it's time to return to the old way of doing things. The direct approach, the personal approach, is easier than glad-handing hundreds of politicians who are more interested in their re-election than hard times in the ancestral homeland.