{"id":280887,"date":"2026-02-04T20:44:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T20:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/280887\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T20:44:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T20:44:23","slug":"colm-meaney-reveals-plans-to-move-back-to-ireland-from-us-because-of-trump-administration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/280887\/","title":{"rendered":"Colm Meaney reveals plans to move back to Ireland from US because of Trump administration"},"content":{"rendered":"

The top Irish actor, who is well-known for his roles in The Van and Law Abiding Citizen, said what is currently going on in the States is ‘terrifying’<\/p>\n

Actor Colm Meaney(Image: GABRIEL BOUYS\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Colm Meaney<\/a> has said he wants to move back to Ireland from the US because of the Donald Trump<\/a> administration.<\/p>\n

The top Irish actor, who is well-known for his roles in The Van and Law Abiding Citizen, said what is currently going on in the States is “terrifying.”<\/p>\n

He also described the targeting of immigrants as “naked fascism”.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the Claire Byrne Show<\/a> on Newstalk, the Dubliner said: “At least the Brown Shirts, unlike these ICE guys, the Brown Shirts would wear a uniform [and] didn’t wear masks.<\/p>\n

“And a lot of these ICE agents, so-called federal agents are actually Proud Boys.<\/p>\n

“What’s their obsession with trans people? What’s that about? Less than two per cent of the population are trans.”<\/p>\n

\"US<\/p>\n

Donald Trump (Image: MANDEL NGAN, AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Meaney revealed he and his wife Ines have a home in Spain and said the pair spend a significant amount of time there.<\/p>\n

He said it’s most likely they will set up shop in Ireland. He added: “I mean, we can’t stay in America at the moment.<\/p>\n

“And my kids, one’s in New York, one’s in London; the one in New York is hoping to move, who’s born in America, lives in America – but her and her American husband.<\/p>\n

“And I think they’re going to move here as well.”<\/p>\n

Meaney acknowledged Dublin was “home turf” but said he was “tempted” by other places around Ireland.<\/p>\n

He added: “The fact that, you know, all these great restaurants exist around the country, there’s so many places to go and get great food.”<\/p>\n

But he quipped: “The weather’s a problem, of course.”<\/p>\n

\"Claire<\/p>\n

Claire Byrne(Image: Collins)<\/p>\n

He also stressed he was aware life in Ireland isn’t perfect. He said the health services are “terrible” and the housing crisis is “appalling”.<\/p>\n

But said the revival of the Irish language made him happy.<\/p>\n

He said: “I mean, the house I grew up in was built by Dublin Corporation.<\/p>\n

“At a time when we had no money in the country – and it was great.<\/p>\n

“All our building became developer-led development; as a result, you have no infrastructure either.<\/p>\n

“You have no trains. You’ve no, you know, shops, schools, all that has to be provided by the State.<\/p>\n

“Housing needs to be seen, I think, as a right; it’s a social need and social needs should be taken care of by the State.”<\/p>\n

Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The top Irish actor, who is well-known for his roles in The Van and Law Abiding Citizen, said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[6130,135057,969,93,61,60,6133],"class_list":{"0":"post-280887","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-claire-byrne","9":"tag-colm-meaney","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-newstalk"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}