Paul Hosford: Getting out of Oval Office unscathed as good as Micheál Martin could have hoped

Under pressure at home to raise the legality of the Iran war as well as the ongoing situation in Gaza, few would envy Micheál Martin's position in having to deal with the US president on St Patrick's Day

Taoiseach Micheál Martin during a bilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump, US vice president JD Vance and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the White House in Washington DC. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

When Micheál Martin sat in the Oval Office last year, the spotlight was on Ireland's economic model.

In the glare of Donald Trump's promises to bring industry back to US shores, Ireland's pharma industry was singled out as the president laid the groundwork for a sweeping global tariff regime.

It was an uncomfortable position for Mr Martin, with Mr Trump's mercurial nature making a difficult course to navigate in the glare of the world's media.

This year, arguably, there was more on the line. 

Ireland's economy has already been impacted by Mr Trump's tariffs, despite them being struck down by the US Supreme Court. Meanwhile,  the impacts from the war in Iran are being felt at the petrol pumps and by those heating their homes. 

Under pressure at home to raise the legality of the Iran war as well as the ongoing situation in Gaza, few would envy Mr Martin's position in having to deal with the US president on St Patrick's Day.

Today, much of the focus of the meeting was on Iran, as Mr Trump waxed lyrical about the US military might in Iran, saying that it had effectively "destroyed" the Iranian armed forces. Mr Trump said he had prevented "nuclear holocaust" by bombing Iran.

“I said Iran was a big threat to this country, to this world of ours, and turned out I was right.

“You can’t let them have a nuclear weapon. If they got a nuclear weapon, I would say they would have used it within 24 hours after having it.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin during a bilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

“I think it would have hit Europe, maybe not Ireland, but it would have hit Europe.

“It is big enough, you would have been affected.” 

Mr Martin, largely silent for the first 25 minutes of the Donald Trump Show after introductory remarks, concurred, saying that “everyone accepts that you cannot have a rogue state with a nuclear weapon” and that Iran was “a sponsor of terrorism”. 

On the substantive issue driving up fuel prices, Mr Trump said that it "won't be too long" before the Strait of Hormuz is safe for oil tankers and promised that fuel prices in Ireland would "drop like a rock" when the crisis is over.

Mr Trump said that he had "many friends" who are Irish who supported his actions in Iran.

"They're very happy that I'm getting rid of a nuclear terrorist.  

As soon as that war is over, which will be soon, your prices are going to drop like a rock. You watch.

There were a couple of tricky moments for Mr Martin, however, as he was forced to defend another world leader — British prime minister Keir Starmer.

Mr Trump made his displeasure at the UK's lack of support in Iran known, saying that Mr Starmer is "no Churchill" and a "nice man with a lovely family who doesn't produce". 

Mr Martin, who last week spent time with Mr Starmer in Cork, said that Mr Starmer was an “earnest, sound person” who helped to “reset” the UK-Irish relationship.

It would be easy to look at the event as little more than a possession battle and tabulate the time speaking stats, but that misreads the purpose of Mr Martin being in the room at all. The success is having a week full of attention in the US.

Getting out of the Oval Office unscathed is probably as good as could be hoped and, for that, Mr Martin will have breathed a sigh of relief as he headed to a lunch of Capitol Hill.