{"id":352350,"date":"2026-03-18T09:41:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T09:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/352350\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T09:41:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T09:41:12","slug":"donald-trump-given-shamrock-as-micheal-martin-urges-co-operation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/352350\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump given shamrock as Micheal Martin urges co-operation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump has been given a crystal bowl of shamrock by Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin, who told the US president he and European leaders could work together to resolve differences in relation to the war with Iran.<\/p>\n

It comes amid frictions between European leaders and Trump after he said he expected Europe\u2019s co-operation on a bombing campaign launched with Israel against Iran.<\/p>\n

The US president hosted the Taoiseach in the White House on St Patrick\u2019s Day, with the shamrock gifting ceremony acting as the culmination of days of US-Irish engagements organised each year to mark Ireland\u2019s national day.<\/p>\n

Martin presented Trump with the shamrock as he called for as \u201cfew barriers and tariffs\u201d around trade \u201cas possible\u201d, and said Ireland\u2019s own history should show negotiation, de-escalation and \u201cinternational rules and order\u201d were essential to peace and security around the world.<\/p>\n

An earlier 40-minute meeting in the Oval Office involved Trump responding to Irish president Catherine Connolly\u2019s criticism of US-Israeli attacks on Iran by saying the world \u201cshould be thankful\u201d for the intervention.<\/p>\n

He also doubled down on his previous criticisms of Nato and accused British Prime Minister Keir Starmer of making a \u201cbig mistake\u201d on Iran.<\/p>\n

Martin defended Starmer by telling Trump he \u201chad the capacity\u201d to engage with the British leader and other European leaders.<\/p>\n

He said the relationship between Europe and the US is \u201cvery, very important\u201d, and previous issues between the EU and the US last year, where the threat of a tariff war loomed for months, had been resolved.<\/p>\n

You’ve got on with other European leaders as well and I think you have that capacity again<\/p>\n

Micheal Martin to Donald Trump<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we can get landing zone again,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeir Starmer has done a lot to reset the Irish-British relationship, I just want to put that on the record.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I do believe that he\u2019s a very earnest, sound person (which) you have a capacity to get on with, you\u2019ve got on with him before.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got on with other European leaders as well and I think you have that capacity again.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Trump was \u201cdoing your bit there in terms of work in Gaza\u201d to find peace in the Middle East, and said that the Irish people had been \u201cpeacekeepers all our lives\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cUltimately, all conflicts come to an end, and I think we have to try and work towards that end. I\u2019m sure European leaders and the US administration will engage, and hopefully we can get a landing zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DonaldUS President Donald Trump hosted Miche\u00e1l Martin (Niall Carson\/PA)<\/p>\n

Trump responded to say he agreed with Martin but said that as the US had helped Europe fight against Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he thought that Europe would assist the US in relation to Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very unfair to the United States,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When asked to respond to comments by President Catherine Connolly \u2013 who criticised \u201cdeliberate assaults on international law\u201d in the Middle East and \u201cthe normalisation of war\u201d \u2013 Trump said: \u201cHe\u2019s lucky I exist, that\u2019s all I can say. (sic)<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause if you\u2019re going to allow countries that are sick and demented \u2013 and they are demented \u2013 to have nuclear weapons, everybody in the whole world should be very thankful.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said that if the US-Israeli attack was not launched on Iran, \u201cyou would have had a nuclear war in the Middle East and maybe beyond\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it would have hit Europe, maybe not Ireland, but it would have hit Europe. It all gets you, it\u2019s big enough that you would have been affected.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MichealTaoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin speaks during the Friends of Ireland luncheon at the US Capitol (Niall Carson\/PA)<\/p>\n

Representatives of People Before Profit, Sinn F\u00e9in, and the Social Democrats were among opposition politicians criticising Martin for not challenging the US president on the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Trump also pledged to Irish people that energy prices would \u201cdrop like a rock\u201d when the war ended, and that he would try to visit Ireland in the autumn for the Irish Open, which will be hosted at his hotel and golf course in Doonbeg, Co Clare.<\/p>\n

Martin, who spoke only briefly during the White House meeting as the engagement was dominated by questions to the US president in relation to Iran, also urged co-operation between Ireland and the US on immigration.<\/p>\n

After Trump said Europe had to \u201cdo something on immigration\u201d, Martin later said that \u201csometimes Europe gets characterised wrongly\u201d for being \u201coverrun\u201d and said there was \u201cmuch more stronger mechanism in place to facilitate legal migration\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love if we could develop a legal pathway between the US and Ireland into the future, because of our history,\u201d Martin said of a US-Irish immigration system.<\/p>\n

The two leaders then travelled to the US Capitol for a \u201cFriends of Ireland\u201d luncheon, where Trump criticised the \u201ctremendous\u201d trade imbalance between the two countries and implored Martin to purchase American liquefied natural gas.<\/p>\n

\"EmmaNorthern Ireland deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly (Niall Carson\/PA)<\/p>\n

Northern Ireland deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly was among those in attendance.<\/p>\n

Earlier, the Taoiseach met US vice president JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance at their official residence.<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in president Mary Lou McDonald and Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O\u2019Neill have boycotted the St Patrick\u2019s Day events in the US over that administration\u2019s policies on Gaza.<\/p>\n

On Monday evening, the Taoiseach addressed the prestigious Ireland Funds National Gala dinner in the US capital.<\/p>\n

He spent the weekend in Philadelphia where he marked the contribution of Irish people to the building of the country, 250 years on from the signing of the Declaration of Independence.<\/p>\n

He also took part in the Pennsylvanian city\u2019s St Patrick\u2019s Day parade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donald Trump has been given a crystal bowl of shamrock by Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin, who told the US…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-352350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352350","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=352350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}