Trump to meet Irish leaders before heading to golf tournament

US President Donald Trump is due to meet Ireland’s president and prime minister on Saturday, September 12, before attending a golf tournament at his company’s resort, in a 48-hour foreign trip that comes as his recent focus on the Iran war and the Republican Party’s efforts to retain control of Congress have intensified.

The meetings with Irish President Catherine Connolly and Prime Minister Micheál Martin are not part of an official state visit. But following this week’s Republican convention and the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the talks could touch on politically sensitive issues, including economic matters and concerns among Irish leaders over the war in Iran.

Trump is making the trip as Republicans campaign to preserve their majorities in both chambers of the US Congress in November’s midterm elections. The conflict with Iran has added to economic concerns among American voters by driving up gasoline prices across the country.

Anti-war and anti-Trump demonstrations are planned in Dublin and in western Ireland near the Trump International Golf Links in Doonbeg.

Ireland is among the European Union’s most pro-Palestinian countries and in July passed legislation restricting trade in goods with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. US lawmakers and the American ambassador to Ireland criticised the measure.

Martin has so far avoided political clashes with the Trump administration.

“The relationship between Ireland and the United States is very important economically,” Martin told reporters when asked about Trump’s weekend trip. “It’s very, very significant both ways.”

US-owned companies employ about 10% of Ireland’s workforce. Successive Irish governments have spent decades prioritising those jobs and corporate tax revenues, helping give Ireland some of the healthiest public finances in Europe in recent years.

In Dublin on Saturday, Connolly, who was elected president last year, will have more direct interaction with Trump than she did during his first presidential visit to Ireland in 2019. At the time, Connolly, then an outspoken politician with far-left views on foreign policy, protested Trump’s visit outside Shannon Airport in western Ireland.

Now serving in the largely ceremonial role of president, Connolly has faced calls from some supporters to speak out against US military actions around the world and defend Ireland’s policy of neutrality.

Trump will be the eighth sitting US president to visit Ireland, following in the footsteps of John F. Kennedy, who made the first such visit in 1963.

The trip, however, has many of the hallmarks of Trump’s typical weekends, which frequently revolve around golf outings at properties owned by his company.

The Trump Organisation took control of the Doonbeg golf course in 2014. The resort is hosting the Irish Open golf tournament this weekend, and Trump is expected to help present the trophy to the winner on Sunday.

By Tamilla Hasanova