Martin aiming to secure Ireland’s economic ties with the US in Trump meeting

Irish premier Micheal Martin has insisted his priority in this week’s meeting with Donald Trump at the White House is to “copper fasten” Ireland’s economic relationship with the US.

Amid concerns that the US president’s protectionist approach to tariffs and tax could pose a significant risk to an Irish economy that is in large part sustained by long-standing investment by US multinationals, the Taoiseach stressed he will be emphasising the two-way nature of the transatlantic relationship.

Mr Martin will hold talks with Mr Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday, but he began his traditional St Patrick’s programme of engagements in the US with a visit to Austin, Texas – a state the Taoiseach said had witnessed a “new wave of Irish investment” with 120 Irish companies creating about 4,000 jobs.

Mr Martin declined to be drawn on questions about how he intended to handle the meeting with Mr Trump in Washington DC, insisting he was taking his visit “day by day” and that his focus on Monday was on engagements in Austin, including a meeting with Republican state governor Greg Abbot.

“I represent the country, the people of Ireland, and I am very, very conscious that in a very challenging world, thousands and thousands of jobs depend on the economic relationship between the United States and Ireland,” he added.

“And my overriding objective is to copper fasten that for the time ahead and to protect those people who are working in jobs. And that is very important.”

Pressed on his strategy for the meeting with Mr Trump, Mr Martin said: “Our strategy really is to – notwithstanding all the commentary – bring home the idea that [the US has] an enduring, robust presence in Ireland and the relationship is a very strong one that we want to see grow into the future.

“So that’s my focus today and I take it day by day, but I’m looking forward to the meeting in the White House, obviously.”

“Meetings of this kind very often can sow a seed for future investments,” he said.

“To bring home to the companies the strength of what Ireland has to offer in terms of a stable political environment, a very clear investment framework, and also then in terms of human capital.”

Mr Martin said Ireland had a strong position as a member of the European Union to attract the right employees to meet the objectives of companies investing in the country.

The Taoiseach earlier insisted that the US remained an “indispensable partner at a time of great peril in the world”.

Mr Martin and Mr Trump are expected to discuss a range of issues on Wednesday, including the war in Ukraine and the situations in the Middle East and Northern Ireland.

The Irish leader will later present Mr Trump with the traditional shamrock bowl in the White House, extending St Patrick’s Day greetings from the people of Ireland to the people of the US

A host of Irish Government ministers will also travel to the US, including deputy premier Tanaiste Simon Harris, who will visit Philadelphia and New York, at a time described as a key juncture in European-US relations.

Ms Little-Pengelly will later travel alone to Washington DC for engagements.

Ms O’Neill and Sinn Fein party colleagues are not travelling to Washington as part of “a principled stance against the threat of mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza”.