{"id":5503,"date":"2026-03-17T23:36:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T23:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/irelands-micheal-martin-and-trump-in-awkward-st-patricks-day-exchange\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T23:36:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T23:36:35","slug":"irelands-micheal-martin-and-trump-in-awkward-st-patricks-day-exchange","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/irelands-micheal-martin-and-trump-in-awkward-st-patricks-day-exchange\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland\u2019s Micheal Martin and Trump in awkward St Patrick\u2019s Day exchange"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Ireland, which took a strong stance on the Gaza genocide, is similarly robust on Iran, but Martin is criticised for passivity.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin has met US President Donald Trump during an annual Saint Patrick\u2019s Day visit to Washington, DC, delicately pushing back against the latter\u2019s stances on several issues, from Iran to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.<\/p>\n<p>The leaders\u2019 sit-down took place at the Oval Office on Tuesday, on a day dominated by the resignation of US counterterrorism chief <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/17\/us-national-counterterrorism-center-director-joe-kent-resigns-over-iran-war\">Joe Kent<\/a> over the US and Israel\u2019s war on Iran and Trump\u2019s tirade against NATO allies refusing to get on board with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/16\/eu-leaders-reject-military-involvement-in-strait-of-hormuz-amid-war-on-iran\">military action<\/a> in the blocked Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/11\/26\/ireland-tightens-immigration-rules-to-check-population-growth\">Ireland tightens immigration rules to check population growth<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/10\/25\/connolly-set-to-be-irelands-next-president-after-rival-concedes-defeat\">Connolly wins Ireland\u2019s presidential election in landslide<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/9\/11\/ireland-wont-participate-in-eurovision-2026-if-israel-does-broadcaster\">Ireland won\u2019t participate in Eurovision 2026 if Israel does: Broadcaster<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>The 65-year-old taoiseach \u2013 Irish for prime minister \u2013 was under political pressure to talk tough to Trump about the war on Iran. But as the Irish Times newspaper noted, he remained \u201ceffectively mute\u201d for the first 20 minutes as the US president held forth on a range of grievances, including the resignation of Kent, director of the US National Counterterrorism Center.<\/p>\n<p>Noting Trump\u2019s accusation that NATO had made a \u201cfoolish mistake\u201d by not backing the US, the Irish prime minister, whose country is not a NATO member, tried a diplomatic approach.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sure European leaders and the US administration will engage, and hopefully, we can get a landing zone,\u201d he said, appearing to mean a common ground.<\/p>\n<p>Then, Trump went on to complain that while the US had helped with Ukraine, \u201cthey don\u2019t help with Iran\u201d, going on to unload a lengthy list of grievances against Iranian leaders, whom he called \u201cthe worst people going back to Hitler\u201d, and Europe.<\/p>\n<p>Ireland, which joined South Africa\u2019s International Court of Justice (ICJ) case accusing Israel of committing <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/12\/17\/irish-support-for-palestinians-stands-firm-despite-israeli-anger\">genocide in Gaza<\/a>, has taken a similarly robust stance on Iran. Trump\u2019s reaction to Irish President Catherine Connolly\u2019s remarks that the US-Israel war against Iran was illegal under international law was, therefore, a matter of some interest.<\/p>\n<p>Asked what he thought about Connolly\u2019s comments, Trump appeared not to realise that the Irish president is a woman. \u201cLook, he\u2019s lucky I exist,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Martin did not correct him.<\/p>\n<p>Another thorny moment came when Trump criticised the United Kingdom\u2019s Starmer for failing to help him on Iran.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do believe that he\u2019s a very earnest, sound person,\u201d Martin said. \u201cWe think you have a capacity to get on with [him]; you\u2019ve got on with him before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When Trump returned to a favourite remark on Starmer, pointing to a bust of British wartime leader Winston Churchill and saying Starmer was \u201cno Winston Churchill\u201d, Martin gently pointed out the former leader\u2019s controversial role during Ireland\u2019s war of independence from Britain.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Ireland, it was kind of a different perspective,\u201d he chuckled, touching Trump on the arm. \u201cHe created his own bit of difficulties for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In Ireland, opposition politicians criticised Martin\u2019s passivity, suggesting that he had missed an opportunity to call out US and Israeli actions in Iran.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Taoiseach needed to be very clear with the US administration on the primacy of international law, and how US actions have breached this. The Taoiseach chose not to take this opportunity to state this publicly,\u201d said Sinn F\u00e9in lawmaker Donnchadh O Laoghaire, according to The Irish Times.<\/p>\n<p>However, as the newspaper noted, the Irish prime minister\u2019s polite but firm approach also demonstrated \u201can ability to gently deflect and contradict in a conversational manner\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ireland, which took a strong stance on the Gaza genocide, is similarly robust on Iran, but Martin is criticised for passivity. Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin has met US President Donald Trump during an annual Saint Patrick\u2019s Day visit to Washington, DC, delicately pushing back against the latter\u2019s stances on several issues, from Iran to &#8230; <a title=\"Ireland\u2019s Micheal Martin and Trump in awkward St Patrick\u2019s Day exchange\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/irelands-micheal-martin-and-trump-in-awkward-st-patricks-day-exchange\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Ireland\u2019s Micheal Martin and Trump in awkward St Patrick\u2019s Day exchange\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}