Mayor Rahm Emanuel knows, of course, because he was invited to the dinner where Mr. Kenny was the keynote speaker.
The biggest selling newspaper in the city failed to mention anything at all about the visit, but given the fact that there's not much left to that paper after Sam Zell worked his magic, it's safe to say that they didn't have enough reporters available to cover everything.
That's because there's a presidential race going full gallop and the Republican primary is being held on Tuesday and there's all those stump speeches to cover. Then President Obama showed up to raise money for his re-election (and steal a bit of thunder from his rivals), so there's how many more reporters needed?
Let's not forget the college basketball tournament that started on Thursday, while Ireland's own An Taoiseach was jetting across the water. Add in the usual murder and mayhem, and it's a full slate.
No room for Mr. Kenny's visit or speech in which he assured Chicago business folk that Ireland was poised for a rebound.
According to some reports, Mr. Kenny and Mr. Emanuel chatted about their fondness for cycling, and Mr. Emanuel half-jokingly suggested that he'll be coming to visit Dublin soon.
So today, when you're standing on the kerb watching the St. Patrick's Day parade pass by, and every politician who's anyone in Chicago is marching, that very Irish-looking (i.e., pale) gentleman at the head of the line is the Prime Minister of Ireland.
How things have changed.
The Mayor of Chicago doesn't have a drop of Irish blood in his veins, and most of the descendants of the Irish diaspora lit out for the suburbs as Chicago slid under the weight of mismanagement and corruption and cronyism.
Alderman Ed Burke, famous for his ear-splitting rendition of "Danny Boy", lords over a segment of the city that's largely Hispanic.
And there's no big news stories about An Taoiseach coming to call and marching in the parade.
After so many decades, it's as if the Irish don't matter in Chicago any more.
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