We don’t want you here: What Martin should tell Trump at Farmleigh but won’t

Political Editor ELAINE LOUGHLIN says the Taoiseach should raise issues including Israel's genocide in Palestine, and the chaos Trump is wreaking with everything from tariffs to the war on Iran

Taoiseach Micheál Martin meeting US president Donald Trump in the Oval Office during his 2025 St Patrick's Day trip. Mr Martin will welcome Trump this weekend as he arrives to visit the Irish Open at his Doonbeg golf course. Picture: Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg/Getty

Taoiseach Micheál Martin will welcome US president Donald Trump to Farmleigh House early on Saturday morning where both men will sit down together for around 30 minutes.

Bilateral meetings often follow a prescribed agenda. Nonetheless, getting facetime with one of the most influential and divisive political leaders on home soil is significant.

The Taoiseach, who has met Trump twice in the Oval Office, must represent and relay the views of this country but, like all good hosts, will be conscious not to offend the visitor.

Martin may raise some thorny issues, but his comments are not likely to go far enough for the Irish public, the majority of whom oppose Trump’s visit to Dublin and Clare.

Here are four things the Taoiseach should say to Donald Trump, but won’t.

1. America must stand up to Israel to end the genocide in Gaza

The generations to come will be the judges, but it is likely already too late to be on the right side of history in relation to the atrocities that have unfolded in Gaza.

However, it can never be too late to take a firm and public stand against the attack on Palestinians by Israel.

The Taoiseach must implore the US president to follow the British government, which this week announced sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, accusing Israel’s government of turning a blind eye to the “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians by violent settlers.

Since Israel launched its war on Gaza in the aftermath of the attacks on October 7, 2023, the US has provided billions of dollars’ worth of arms to Benjamin Netanyahu. While Israel’s actions in Gaza are now widely described as genocidal, the US continues to offer support.

In March, the US Department of State approved a $151.8m (€130m) munitions deal with the Israeli government, which it said would help to improve the security of a strategic regional partner that has been, and continues to be, an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East.

Netanyahu has met with Trump in the White House six times since he returned to office in 2022, more than any other world leader.

Campaigners have been long calling on the Taoiseach to boycott the annual St Patrick’s day trip to Washington, given the US administration’s close ties to Israel.

Opposition parties and the thousands of people who have taken part in pro-Palestine rallies believe that Ireland should use its voice in all arenas to call out what is happening in Gaza and to demand real sanctions against the violence and illegal settlement taking place in the West Bank.

Mr Martin has indicated that he will raise the expansion of settlements in Palestinian territory and will highlight the need to get humanitarian aid into Gaza. But his words must be strong enough to get through to a president who has yet to use America’s full influence on the matter.

2. Hands off our pharmaceuticals

Trump has made no secret of his annoyance around the loss of tax dollars from US multinational firms that are based abroad, slapping tariffs on a raft of imports in a bid to bring industry back home.

Last year, when Martin met Trump in the White House as part of the St Patrick’s Day events, the US president made it clear that the vast amount of taxes paid by US pharmaceutical companies based in Ireland are on his radar.

“All of a sudden, Ireland has our pharmaceutical companies, this beautiful island of 5m people has got the entire US pharmaceutical industry in its grasp,” he told the Taoiseach. “The United States of America is going to take back a lot of what was stolen from it by other countries and by, frankly, incompetent US leadership, grossly incompetent.”

In the national interest, Martin needs to make it clear that Pfizer, Boston Scientific, and Eli Lilly and other key players are not up for grabs.

Ireland simply cannot afford to lose the revenue generated from corporation taxes, which despite repeated warnings against it, have been built into annual spending.

The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (Ifac) recently warned that just three companies — Apple, Microsoft, and Eli Lilly — now account for almost half of all corporation tax receipts.

More worryingly still, massive sales of the weight-loss drug Mounjaro have driven a historic surge in Eli Lilly’s Irish tax payments, so the country is now relying heavily on not just a few companies, but a single product made by one of those multinationals.

In the first four months of last year, Eli Lilly exported $42.3bn worth of ingredients for its weight-loss drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound from Ireland to the US.

3. Stop causing needless global turmoil

Since entering the White House for a second term Trump has ignited global chaos with a style of leadership that bounces from erratic to knee-jerk.

Back in April 2025, his grand unveiling of a list of tariffs to be slapped on countries across the world triggered historic volatility. Since then, stock markets have continued on a roller-coaster trajectory, spiking and falling dramatically on the back of numerous declarations from the US leader.

The war in Iran has only exacerbated what is a fractious global economy.

Soaring prices at the pumps and on the cost of a tank of home heating oil are directly attributable to the ongoing war against Iran.

Here, the decision to retain the cuts in excise on petrol and diesel will cost the exchequer roughly €100m a month before they are eventually reinstated in the spring.

This week, Trump said he does not think the Iran war will end until after November’s midterm elections, adding that oil prices will not come down until then.

“I think the war’s going to end immediately after the election because they can’t hold out any longer,” he said.

However, given the number of statements his administration has put out on possible peace deals, many of them contradictory, it’s hard to ascertain whether this will come to pass or not.

Turmoil in the Middle East is an issue that will undoubtedly come up in discussions, but how far the Taoiseach takes this remains to be seen.

Outlining the points he intends to make when he sits down with Trump, the Fianna Fáil leader said: “I think there is a yearning for stability in the world, I see where efforts are being made to try and secure peace in Ukraine, we need peace in Ukraine, we need peace in the Middle East and we need some stability and certainty for the world and for people.”

4. We will stomach you, but we don’t want you here

Before crossing the Atlantic, Trump unveiled plans to hand out a $5,000 bonus to every adult living in America if the Republican party wins the mid-term elections in November.

Martin should make it clear that the Irish public cannot be bought.

The Irish-American relationship has been o fostered and protected throughout every administration; this is why the Taoiseach visited the White House this year and last despite calls at home to boycott the annual event.

The majority of the Irish public may not want Trump to visit Ireland, but the Government must protect a strategic alliance to ensure it lasts long beyond the current office holder.

Martin must walk the tightrope of maintaining relations, but also speaking up for the thousands of people expected to take to the streets of Dublin in opposition to what Trump and his administration stands for.

• Elaine Loughlin, Political Editor