Trump will now swing by next summer
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump now intends to visit Ireland next summer, Government sources told the Irish Mail on Sunday last night.
Government officials, who regularly liaise with the White House, said that the collapse in plans for the president’s November visit is down to ‘dysfunctionality’ in the US administration.
‘There is no great conspiracy. For something to be organised on a whim and then cancelled is a regular occurrence with this president,’ said a Government source.
‘There is just chaos there. There are numerous important positions that are vacant and show no sign of being filled.’
Last week it emerged that Mr Trump’s planned trip to Ireland in November had been cancelled. The Irish Government appeared to have no forewarning of the decision – just as it had no warning of the decision, two weeks ago, to announce the visit.
‘It appears that the president said on a whim that he would like to stop off at his property at Doonbeg and play golf on his way back from the Armistice commemorations in Paris,’ said the source.
‘However, when the logistics people at the White House started to look into arrangements for Trump’s visit, they found it would take two days and wouldn’t fit into the schedule.’
Now officials attached to the Departments of the Taoiseach and of Foreign Affairs, who have liaised with Washington, say they are looking at a date in the early summer of 2019 for a rescheduled visit.
‘That is the time we are looking at,’ said a Government source. ‘Mr Trump would like to arrange at a time that is most advantageous for golf in Ireland.’