Trump’s Ireland visit poses diplomatic high-wire act for government

Donald Trump’s visit to Ireland may be short and centred on the Irish Open golf tournament at his Doonbeg resort, but it will still force the government into a diplomatic balancing act.

When Trump last visited, Leo Varadkar was taoiseach. Varadkar has recalled trying to steer the US president away from a social-media dispute with actress Bette Midler and toward more serious subjects before the cameras arrived.

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While he is an intelligent man, and nobody should underestimate him, he's not knowledgeable.

In a recent interview, Varadkar described Trump as intelligent but not knowledgeable, and as someone who knows how to manipulate situations and push people’s buttons while having little understanding of how the world works. He called that combination potentially dangerous. Taoiseach Micheál Martin and President Catherine Connolly will now have to deal with the same uncertainty during Trump’s visit next week.

Martin has already navigated difficult encounters with Trump during two visits to Washington. His first approach was relatively reserved, while earlier this year he took a more combative line, stressing the mutual benefits of the US-Ireland trading relationship and defending then-British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. This time, as host, Martin is expected to focus on the historic bonds between Ireland and the United States.

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So, it's a very strange combination of somebody who's quite bright, manipulative, knows how to push buttons, [and] knows how to get people on side. Yet at the same time, has very little knowledge of how the world or anything works, and that's a very strange combination. I think quite a dangerous one.

The government’s priority will be avoiding anything that could endanger the future of major US companies that pay billions of euro in tax in Ireland. Martin has repeatedly said that maintaining high employment is a central government priority.

Outside the secured Phoenix Park, protesters are expected to oppose Trump’s visit. A poll from last February found that 61% of people did not want the government to invite him. People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said the demonstration would highlight the need to “break from our position of subservience to the US empire.” Trump is due to make a brief courtesy call at Áras an Uachtaráin on Saturday morning. The government does not expect Connolly to cause a diplomatic incident and views her as a safe pair of hands.

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break from our position of subservience to the US empire