BARACK OBAMA delivered his cúpla focal with such aplomb last Monday because he had practised them on a receptionist at Dublin’s Merrion Hotel before taking to the College Green stage.
As the president was leaving the five-star hotel where he had been due to spend the night, he stopped and chatted with staff, including Bernie O’Meara from Birr. Once he heard she was from Co Offaly, his ancestral home, he started calling her “cuz” and spent several minutes trying out his Irish on her to ensure he got his pronunciation just right.
Mr Obama’s staff, however, had spent a whole lot longer making sure everything else was just right.
The hotel’s general manager Peter McCann was first contacted by White House officials days after St Patrick’s Day when the president announced he was coming. They booked the whole hotel and advance teams subsequently made multiple visits. They vetted staff, installed communications and medical facilities and offices, and even built a replica of the White House press room in case it was needed.
The whole operation was conducted in secret. For the last eight weeks senior hotel management have simply referred to the operation as “the visit”. A small number of staff were told to expect a delegation from the White House but were given no idea who would be in that delegation.
To their considerable surprise, it was the president and first lady Michelle Obama who checked in to the hotel’s 204sq m penthouse suite at midday on Monday. The couple ordered a simple lunch of brown rice and chicken to their room and left for Moneygall.
The lunch was cooked by the Merrion’s chefs under the watchful gaze of presidential caterers.
The Obamas were supposed to return for a private dinner but just before 5pm, the hotel staff heard disappointing news. Icelandic ash had robbed the Merrion of the chance to put up the most stellar guest on the planet, after the president’s team decided Air Force One would have to leave shortly after 9pm, 12 hours ahead of schedule, in case the ash closed Irish airspace.
Eighty of the presidential entourage left with Mr Obama, leaving 60 behind. Many of them, with an unexpected night off, went across to O’Donoghues pub where they knocked back Guinness just as their commander-in-chief had done in Moneygall earlier in the day.
Mr Obama exited the hotel through a marquee erected at the entrance to ensure there was no line of sight. As the visit came to a hurried end, staff wanted a picture with the president, but their professionalism would not allow them to ask. They were not to be disappointed, however. “Mr Obama asked if he could have his picture taken with us before he left,” said Mr McCann.
What else could they say but “Yes you can”.
