Was Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s visit to the White House a diplomatic victory for a small country or a ritual humiliation for Ireland and the EU?
From the perspective of Michael Brendan Dougherty – a writer for the National Review – the answer is the former, albeit with caveats.
There was no Oval Office ambush, and the tradition survives another year even under a president who breaks traditions. Dougherty notes Trump expressed America’s position vis-a-vis Ireland at a bilateral level, and then occasionally widening to the European context.
“At the bilateral level, Trump expressed his frustration about America’s trade deficit with Ireland as anger at his predecessors, but admiration for the “smart” Irish people.”
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Dougherty writes that the current US focus on Ukraine, Mexico and Canada meant Irish tax rates were not a significant issue – despite them being a source of considerable annoyance for new US secretary of commerce Howard Lutnick.
In that context “it would be wise to prepare a more comprehensive defence of Ireland’s tax system, or perhaps a plan to grow Irish domestic firms to the point where the country relies less on naked policy arbitrage,” Dougherty suggests.
In Ireland’s favour, Dougherty says, is Ireland’s ability to charm and the value Trump places on the Irish-American vote.
However, in Daniel Geary’s view the meeting showed that Ireland’s relationship with the US “has fundamentally changed” and “the US president is no longer Ireland’s friend”.
Geary says this week we saw Mr Martin silence disagreements with Trump “out of fear that it would provoke economic retribution”.
“Martin did what he needed to do. It may be tempting to stand up to a bully, but we saw how badly wrong that went for Volodymyr Zelenskiy. But even while recognising the diplomatic reality, we should still feel disgusted by it.”
While this marks a new moment in US-Irish relations, Geary notes it is hardly a departure from how most countries have dealt with the world’s foremost superpower. Ask any Latin American. Throughout its history, the US has bullied its neighbours, Geary writes.
Geary suggests that “if we want to avoid future rituals of humiliation with deplorable US presidents, we have to shift our economy from its overdependence on US multinationals.”
The backdrop to the meeting was a looming US-EU trade war and Trump spoke about Ireland “stealing” American pharma investment.
Ireland faces a period of delicate diplomacy. It must implement what is decided in Brussels despite its particularly large trade exposure to the US.
As our Editorial this weekend notes, others in the EU will want to respond more strongly to Trump’s bullying trade tactics – “and this is what is likely to happen”.
Ireland is seen as having done very well economically in recent years “and the stellar growth in corporate tax revenue in particular has been noted in Berlin, Paris and other EU capitals, as well as in Washington DC.”
Despite Trump’s pledge not to do anything to hurt Ireland, the Trump administration seems intent on pushing ahead with much more significant tariffs than those announced to date, with the EU likely to retaliate. If that happens Ireland’s economy is on the front line.
Five Key Reads
- Micheál Martin in Washington: The Taoiseach’s visit to the US for the traditional St Patrick’s Day events has been seen as a relative success, even if uncertainty remains about how deteriorating US-EU relations will hit Ireland. Our writers ensured comprehensive coverage of the trip, including Martin’s White House meeting with Donald Trump, with Washington Correspondent Keith Duggan noting that the Taoiseach couldn’t disguise the fact that he’d say anything to keep shamrocks flying high in Trumpland. Pat Leahy, meanwhile, wrote that there was no mistaking that the Oval Office encounter was Donald’s show
- Ireland in 2025 - What do we want to be? To mark St Patrick’s Day three writers took a look at modern Ireland through the perspectives of politics, housing and biodiversity. Patrick Freyne kicked off the series by examining how Ireland’s history has shaped our politics. Kelly Earley wrote about the impact of the housing crisis on a generation of young Irish people, and in a piece published online on Monday, Blindboy will reflect on the existential threat facing the country from the climate crisis.
- The Samantha Cookes story: Inside the mind of a pathological liar: Compulsive liar and serial fraudster Samantha Cookes has shot to international infamy after her activities were unmasked by the police, newspaper journalists, online sleuths and podcasters. She is now serving a sentence in Limerick Prison having been jailed over a €60,000 social welfare fraud. That fraud, however, is only a tiny fraction of her story. Conor Lally wrote about her remarkable trail of deception
- Rise of the ‘fit-fluencer’: A growing amount of health misinformation is being shared online in the form of exercise and diet advice that’s not backed by science. And many such messages are shared across social media platforms by health and fitness influencers, often referred to as “fit-fluencers”. Shauna Bowers explores the issues created by a growing online industry
- Chinese investors sink large sums into north Dublin property: Investors from China are pumping significant sums into the Dublin property market in recent years, land and company registry files show. Many of the properties are in Dublin 1, where Chinese restaurants and other Chinese businesses have opened in areas such as Parnell Street and Capel Street. Colm Keena examined what is driving this investment, and delved into detail into the Hong Kong group that owns more than €58m in Irish properties.
Elsewhere, we have plenty more to get you ready for St Patrick’s Day, from Mark Moriarty making over three Irish classics to a guide to walking trails that allow you to follow in the saint’s footsteps. And test your knowledge of Irishology with Eoin Butler’s green-themed brainteasers in our St Patrick’s Day Quiz.
Meanwhile, in this week’s On the Money newsletter, Dominic Coyle wrote about the issue of funeral costs, covering how much you can expect to pay for a funeral in Ireland, and whether there are any financial supports on offer in this regard. Sign up here to receive the newsletter straight to your inbox every Friday.
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