{"id":285298,"date":"2026-02-07T07:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T07:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/285298\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T07:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T07:05:08","slug":"micheal-martin-confirms-st-patricks-day-invite-from-donald-trump-to-white-house-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/285298\/","title":{"rendered":"Miche\u00e1l Martin confirms St Patrick\u2019s Day invite from Donald Trump to White House \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">US president <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/donald-trump\/\">Donald Trump<\/a> has invited Taoiseach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/micheal-martin\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/micheal-martin\/\">Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> to the White House for the annual meeting to mark <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/st-patricks-day\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/st-patricks-day\/\">St Patrick\u2019s Day<\/a> festivities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Martin confirmed he has received the formal invitation for the Oval Office meeting at the Cork Chamber\u2019s annual dinner on Friday evening. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The visits comes against a backdrop of tensions between the Trump administration and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/european-union\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/european-union\/\">European Union<\/a>, most recently over Greenland. The US president last month <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/2026\/01\/21\/trump-drops-tariff-threat-over-greenland-after-agreeing-deal\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/2026\/01\/21\/trump-drops-tariff-threat-over-greenland-after-agreeing-deal\/\" target=\"_blank\">dropped a threat<\/a> of fresh trade tariffs on various European countries over the issue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">While there have been suggestions from some quarters that Martin should not meet Trump this year,  the Taoiseach pushed back against these when speaking to reporters on Thursday. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Martin spoke of the \u201cvery important\u201d economic relationship between Ireland and the US and also said: \u201cI haven\u2019t heard of any European Union state that has refused an invitation to the White House yet.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">In an address to be delivered at the Cork Chamber event, Martin confirmed he received the invitation to visit the White House on St Patrick\u2019s Day. The speech outlined how, in his letter, Trump \u201cexpresses that this visit would be an opportunity to celebrate the warm and historic friendship between the US and Ireland\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Martin said the US president also paid tribute to the Irish-American community, who have made such an \u201cenormous contribution\u201d to the United States and \u201che believes this is an opportunity to celebrate the special relationship between our two countries\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The Taoiseach added that Ireland\u2019s relationship with the United States is as old as the US republic \u201cand it was a vital one in the foundation of ours\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cIt is a relationship which has been strengthened through a shared commitment to engagement and understanding,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cOur economic contacts are of enormous value to both of our countries \u2013 and this has at its foundation an open dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-it-article-body__interstitial-link\">[\u00a0<a aria-label=\"Open related story\" class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/politics\/2026\/01\/21\/taoiseach-and-up-to-10-ministers-to-visit-us-for-st-patricks-week-celebrations\/\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Taoiseach and up to 10 Ministers to visit US for St Patrick\u2019s week celebrationsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Martin said he looks forward to his meetings in Washington in the year the US is celebrating the 250th anniversary of its Declaration of Independence, which he described as \u201ca democratic ideal which remains an inspiration\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The Taoiseach also said: \u201cAs we negotiate these challenging times, my focus in relations with all countries and especially in our critical relationships, is not on the short term. It is on the long term. On finding points of shared interest rather than opportunities for division.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The Oval Office meeting is often not on St Patrick\u2019s Day, March 17th, but this year it is due to happen on the day itself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Last year Martin met Trump in the White House in the days leading up to March 17th.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The US president later separately hosted controversial MMA fighter Conor McGregor in the White House on St Patrick\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">A total of 40 Ministers and other representatives of the State will visit more than 50 countries for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/st-patricks-day\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/st-patricks-day\/\" target=\"_blank\">St Patrick\u2019s Day<\/a> programme that is set to focus on trade and investment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Martin will also travel to Philadelphia and he is among nine representatives who will head stateside, including Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy, who is due to go to Los Angeles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US president Donald Trump has invited Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin to the White House for the annual meeting to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1714,969,42,1843,43,63762,40,38,41,39,27999],"class_list":{"0":"post-285298","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-conor-mcgregor","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-micheal-martin","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-st-patricks-day","14":"tag-top-news","15":"tag-top-stories","16":"tag-topnews","17":"tag-topstories","18":"tag-verona-murphy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285298","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=285298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}