Fear and loathing in Ireland as Trump ‘finds out’

Irish politicians are experiencing uncertainty over their annual St Patrick’s Day junkets to the US as they face a Trump administration which shows little concern for good international relations with Ireland.

There are fears over the potential effects of new US tariffs and tax law changes on the Irish economy – but Trump’s plans for dealing with the aftermath of the genocide in Gaza have prompted the most immediate concerns.

His suggestion that the US could exploit the destruction and ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip to create a resort destination has been lashed by People Before Profit TD Ruth Coppinger as “deranged”.

She has described Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “two psychopaths”.

“Nobody whatsoever from this Dáil should go to the White House,” she said.

“Nobody should greenwash Trump and give him any flag or any cover to hide what he stands for. Our government and all political parties should make that clear.”

Ms Coppinger added: “It is absolutely critical that we do not allow the normalising of genocide, of ethnic cleansing, and of increased oppression.

“This is the leader of the biggest capitalist nation in the world blithely saying these things and I think they have announced the preparedness of the oligarchs to ravage the world for profit, to walk over the globe as they see fit.

“And it is not been called out - either through spinelessness or people waiting to see what the response of the people is. I think they’ve declared a war on human rights and on democracy.”

The SDLP has already said that, for a second year, it will not attend the traditional St Patrick’s Day events in Washington DC.

“Last year, the SDLP made the decision not to send anyone to Washington for St Patrick’s Day as we could not endorse the US government while it armed and supported the bombardment of Gaza,” said party leader Claire Hanna.

“We hope the fragile ceasefire will deliver a lasting peace and the return of hostages to their families, but the rhetoric of Donald Trump, around the displacement and ethnic cleansing of millions of people, is absolutely beyond the pale.

“We can’t in good conscience attend parties hosted in that context.”

Sinn Féin’s leader Mary Lou McDonald and its First Minister in the North, Michelle O’Neill have not yet indicated if they will attend St Patrick’s Day events in the US this year. Unlike the SDLP leaders, both were present last year, but adopted a lower profile than usual. Back then, a spokesperson for Sinn Féin said the party had attended “in pursuit of peace”.

Speaking recently, Ms O’Neill said: “We still haven’t received an invite, but we’ll judge all that when it comes to it.”

The 26 County Taoiseach Micheál Martin said this week he has also yet to receive an invitation from Donald Trump, but described calls to boycott the annual shamrock ceremony in White House as “reckless and irresponsible”.

“That’s really ignoring the livelihoods of workers across the length and breadth of this country who depend on a good strong positive relationship between the US and Ireland,” he said.

There has been speculation that Trump may not invite Martin or other Irish politicians to the White House in support of Israel’s recent criticism of Ireland.

Mr Martin said: “We’re anticipating the tradition will be continued again this year.”

Urgent Appeal