It could have gone worse, you’d have to say, for Irish Taoiseach (or prime minister) Micheál Martin, who made his ritual St. Patrick’s Day visit to the White House on Tuesday. But in this case, maybe not a whole lot worse.
In fairness, Martin was no more than a bit player in his joint press conference alongside Donald Trump in the Oval Office, a fate shared by many of the president’s past visitors and many more to come. Only a few of the questions flung at the two leaders by reporters had anything to do with Ireland or the recent complications in U.S.-Irish relations, which include the Iran war, Israel’s war in Gaza, Trump’s improvised tariff policies and his unrelenting hostility to the European Union. (The Republic of Ireland remains an EU member, unlike the larger island nation and former colonial superpower next door.)
