Zohran Mamdani will kick off his first St. Patrick’s Day as New York City mayor by hosting the first woman elected president of Ireland for a pre-dawn breakfast at Gracie Mansion.
City Hall confirmed the meeting with Mary Robinson, who is an outspoken advocate for Palestinians in Gaza, before he marches up Fifth Avenue. The Tuesday morning event marks the first time Mamdani is hosting a foreign dignitary at the mayor’s residence.
Robinson was president of Ireland from 1990 to 1997 before becoming the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights. She later became one of the founding members of The Elders, a group of world leaders organized by the late South African President Nelson Mandela, who advocate for peace.
Progressive mayors have at times received a Bronx cheer on St. Patrick’s Day. Mayor Bill de Blasio endured his fair share of jeers at the parade.
And Mayor David Dinkins was subjected to racist and homophobic jeers and beer showers. Mamdani has recently endured a wave of Islamophobic insults from prominent Republicans.
In Robinson, Mamdani has found an Irish woman who shares his pro-Palestinian politics.
“What we saw and heard underlines our personal conviction that there is not only an unfolding, human-caused famine in Gaza. There is an unfolding genocide,” Robinson and former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark wrote in a statement following a visit to the Rafah border crossing last summer.
After the invitation-only breakfast at Gracie, Mamdani will attend the city’s traditional St. Patrick’s Day festivities, including a mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and a march up Fifth Avenue alongside New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
On Monday, Mamdani said he was looking forward to celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in the city.
“ It represents not just a celebration of the incredible contributions of Irish Americans to this city, but also one that celebrates so many of the different ethos that are core to the Irish spirit, including that of solidarity,” Mamdani said at an unrelated press event.
On Friday, Mamdani attended a luncheon with city labor leaders, the James Connolly Irish American Labor Coalition, where TWU International President John Samuelsen served as cohost. He said his members recognized Mamdani as an ardent supporter of union workers.
“ We gauge elected officials, including the mayor, including the governor, on what their relationship is with the trade unions and what their record is of supporting trade union issues for working people,” Samuelsen said. “ So Zohran may have ideas not every Irish trader member in New York state agrees with, but at the end of the day, this is a mayor of New York City that used the power of his office to humble himself and walk the picket lines with striking nurses.”
Samuelsen noted that the contract for New York City transit workers expires in roughly two months and that he expected that the mayor would be supporting his 40,000 workers as part of their negotiations with the state.
The intersection of politics, labor and the cause of Irish New Yorkers is a longstanding one.
“ If you think of the arc of history, that, in New York City, there were signs out that said ‘Irish need not apply’,” said former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. She said both her grandfathers on her mother's and father’s sides were part of city unions. “Labor is part of what made the Irish community even stronger and it’s part of how the Irish community built intergenerational wealth as a community.”
Quinn, who was the first woman and open lesbian to hold a citywide office, said she expected to spend part of her St. Patrick’s Day with an Irish lesbian and gay organization that marches in the parade. Gay groups weren’t allowed to march under their own banners until 2016.
Even people who have spent their lives celebrating St. Patrick’s Day said this year’s event feels particularly important.
“ In today's political climate, particularly with the messaging coming from Washington, it's a reminder that the immigrant community, and in this case the Irish community, is a huge part of the city's history,” said City Councilmember Virginia Maloney.
