DO WE GIVE TRUMP CEAD MILE FAILTE ...OR THE KISS-OFF?
As Trump pledges to visit, the question that will divide the nation:
DEEP divisions were emerging on this side of the Atlantic last night as the prospect of a visit by Donald Trump edged closer.
As business interests said they would welcome such a move by the US President, the hard left predicted that Mr Trump would be ‘met with mass demonstrations’.
Welcoming Leo Varadkar to the White House yesterday, Mr Trump said of a long-mooted trip to Ireland, ‘I look forward to being there’.
However, the US president’s
intervention looks set to fuel controversy here. People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said he was ‘appalled’ at the invitation. Predicting ‘mass demonstrations’, he said: ‘I am certain the majority of people in this country do not like what they hear and what they see from Trump, and his brand of obnoxious and dangerous politics are not welcome here.’
Solidarity TD Paul Murphy echoed these sentiments. ‘If [Trump] does visit, he can be sure of being met by a huge movement of protest,’ he tweeted. ‘He epitomises the ugly nature of capitalism today – imperialist, racist and sexist.’
However, business group ISME said a visit by the US president was something we should welcome. ‘Of course he should (visit), it’s a normal function,’ Neil McDonnell, chief executive of ISME, said. ‘We’ve welcomed worse, why not welcome him?’
He told the Irish Daily Mail the visit would be important for maintaining business relations with the US. ‘The potential damage to the balance of trade would be significant, so we should roll out the green carpet,’ said Mr McDonnell.
He added that if members of the public wish to protest against Mr Trump’s visit, ‘no-one should be stopped from doing that’.
Graeme McQueen, head of public affairs with the Dublin Chamber, said a visit should be considered in a rational manner. ‘I think anything that can be done to further business relations between Ireland and the US should be welcomed,’ he said. ‘Irish-US relations are very important – there’s been lots of trade links for decades.’
An Ireland Thinks/Irish Daily Mail poll conducted in January 2017 – shortly after Mr Trump’s election – found that the public was split 50:50 on whether the business tycoon-turned-politician should be invited here. The same poll found that women were against such a visit, with 64% saying they did not want the Government to invite Mr Trump here.
Asked yesterday by reporters if he had received a formal invitation to visit Ireland from the Taoiseach, Mr Trump said: ‘I guess I have received a formal invitation. I’d go to the border.’
He added that it ‘could happen’ in 2019 as part of a re-election push, joking later that he had just six more St Patrick’s Day luncheons to look forward to, apparently confident about securing a second term in the White House.
He said: ‘I would love to visit Ireland soon. I will go, I have property there and may never get to see it again.’
Asked about the Taoiseach’s suggestion that the two men could see the border between the North and the Republic now threatened by Brexit, Mr Trump said ‘That’s another interesting border.’
Earlier this week, Mr Trump visited the US-Mexico border to inspect wall prototypes.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, he said: ‘We have two interesting borders, one where you are. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens.’
Asked yesterday if he might play at Doonbeg, the golf resort owned by Trump International Golf Links, Mr Trump said he did play golf and asked Mr Varadkar if he did the same. The Taoiseach replied: ‘No, but I’m always willing to learn. So we could play a couple of rounds.’
Earlier, Mr Varadkar had spoken of being telephoned in 2014 by Mr Trump, who was concerned at plans for a windfarm near his Co. Clare golf club. Mr Varadkar, who was tourism minister at the time, said he contacted Clare County Council, and that Mr Trump ‘very kindly’ gave him ‘credit’ for planning permission being declined. But as Opposition parties spoke out yesterday over Mr Varadkar’s 2014 intervention, a spokesman for the Taoiseach played down his part in the affair.
Addressing the political difficulties presented by Britain’s decision to leave the EU, Mr Varadkar said that the US president was ‘on our side’ in the effort to prevent a hard Irish border. He said: ‘The president is very aware of the issues that could affect Northern Ireland if there is a return to a hard border and is very much on our side in working for a resolution to make sure that doesn’t happen.’
On the potential for a presidential visit, he said: ‘We don’t have a date. But he is a president who knows Ireland, who has property in Ireland, and has links to Ireland. We don’t have a date on it, but that is something that could happen.’
Asked if Mr Trump had been extended a formal invitation at the meeting, Mr Varadkar said: ‘There is a standing invitation. The invitation was formally issued by Taoiseach Enda Kenny this time last year, and it stands. Absolutely.’
Mr Trump has acknowledged the importance of the Irish-American voting bloc, a key constituency that defected in droves from the Democrats in November 2016. A trip to Ireland could secure more Irish-American voters ahead of the 2020 election in the manner of the ‘Reagan Democrats’ in 1984.
Later yesterday, Mr Trump and his wife Melania received Mr Varadkar at the White House South Lawn for the annual shamrock ceremony. The president gestured towards the Taoiseach and said: ‘He’s doing a great job.’
‘Obnoxious and dangerous politics’
IT IS looking increasingly likely that Donald Trump will visit Ireland at some point in the not-too-distant future. He certainly sounded very enthusiastic about the prospect when it was raised yesterday.
Given that Leo Varadkar was invited to Washington for the St Patrick’s Day festivities, he was duty-bound to ask the US president to come here. Diplomatic protocol demands no less. And when an invitation is extended, one has to be prepared for the possibility it will be accepted.
It hardly needs spelling out that an Irish visit within the next 12 months or thereabouts would make perfect sense from Mr Trump’s perspective. By the time 2019 comes around, he will be just a year away from a re-election campaign. There is little doubt that an official trip here would be a strong electoral ploy, especially given the hugely significant support he enjoys in the Irish-American community.
Such a visit would inevitably arouse strong feelings. An Irish Daily Mail poll showed that opinion was split down the middle on the issue, although more women than men were opposed to seeing Mr Trump welcomed to these shores.
There is no doubt that people appalled by a Trump visit would make their objections known in the most vocal of terms. However, it ought to be remembered that a great number of jobs here are supported by American businesses.
We need to consider what sort of impression we could expect howling protesters and far-left politicians brandishing megaphones to have on the chief executives of these multinationals. It is highly likely, after all, that many of them are aligned to the Republican Party – and are quite possibly supporters of Mr Trump himself.
It is something that needs to be thought about very carefully. Ultimately, it comes down to two options. One is to call out Donald Trump in the most public manner, bearing in mind the attendant risks involved. The other is to consider whether the economy is more important than principled objections.