Martin allowed to keep watch from Biden as it falls below gift limit of €650
Ken Foxe
Tánaiste Micheál Martin will be allowed to keep a watch presented to him by US president Joe Biden after his department determined its value fell below the maximum value of €650 that applies to gifts for officeholders.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said they had made “concerted efforts” to find an accurate valuation for the watch over the past number of months.
They have now officially determined that the item can be kept because its value does not exceed €650.
If it had, the gift would be considered to be the property of the State and require formal valuation by the Office of Public Works (OPW) under ethics legislation.
The watch was one of three items that Mr Martin received from Joe Biden during the presidential visit in April along with a pair of sunglasses and a notebook.
The Tánaiste was given gifts on 11 separate occasion in the first seven months of this year, according to records released by the department.
In March, he was presented with a traditional Japanese artisanal metal goblet from the Ambassador of Japan Maruyama Norio as well as a digital photo frame from NASDAQ, the US stock market.
During May, Mr Martin was given four tracksuit tops from the Consulate General in Boston, a double picture frame from the Cross-Border Orchestra of Ireland, and a picture frame and photo from the Peace Players of Northern Ireland.
In June, he was presented with a Luxembourg GAA jersey by that country’s prime minister while gifts logged for July included a fruit basket from the Ambassador of Pakistan, a wooden animal sculpture from a South African minister, and a slate piece from University College Cork’s Dublin Chapter Alumni.
Gifts logged in 2022, given to the previous minister Simon Coveney, included a Palestine mug, two bottles of Moldovan wine, framed stamps and an ornamental plate.
There was also an ornamental vase in the shape of “the sacred cod”, which was presented to Minister Coveney by the governor of Massachusetts.
On that trip to Boston and Washington DC in April, the minister also received a novel, a small glass globe, as well as a ‘Boston Irish’ hoodie.
Other gifts logged by the department last year were a box of House of Commons chocolate mints, a bouquet of flowers, two gift bags, and a gift box of Turkish perfume and scented facial wipes.
In response to an FOI request, the department said neither of their two ministers of state had received any gifts worth more than €650 since the beginning of last year.
They added that there was no requirement on staff to retain lists of token gifts that were occasionally presented to them during their diplomatic work.
A spokeswoman said: “The Department of Foreign Affairs has made concerted efforts to determine the value of the gift of a watch from President Biden to the Tánaiste as no official value was available.
“The Department has determined that the commercial value of the gift is less than the threshold.”
