As part of his St Patrick’s week trip to the United States, Micheál Martin visited the Oval Office on Wednesday, March 12, for the annual shamrock ceremony with President Donald Trump. While the Taoiseach hailed the meeting as “very positive”, he is being criticised by opposition and activists for the “shameful” display.
During the 50-minute conversation, which was largely dominated by Trump, the pair discussed trade, the Apple Tax case, the EU, Ireland’s housing crisis, and more. On the latter, the US president told the room: “You know why (Ireland has) a housing crisis? Because they’re doing so well, they can’t produce houses fast enough. That’s a good problem, not a bad problem.”
Laughing, Martin replied, “That’s a very good answer, president.”
Taking to social media, Sinn Féin wrote: “Joking about the housing crisis is never ‘a good answer’. Our people deserve better.”
View this post on Instagram
People Before Profit also responded, saying the Taoiseach “pathetically trying to laugh with Trump sums up his attitude. The United States says jump, the Irish Government says how high.”
The party additionally criticised Martin for repeatedly praising Trump’s “unrelenting focus on peace”, as he put it. Richard Boyd Barrett TD described it as “utterly pathetic”, explaining: “Trump is threatening to ethnically cleanse Gaza and is arming the genocidal Israeli regime to the teeth & telling the EU it must spend more on arms – shameful.”
Meanwhile, Paul Murphy TD said it was “disgusting craven genocide apologism”.
View this post on Instagram
The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) similarly expressed its disapproval over Martin’s comments, saying that while the Taoiseach talked about Israeli hostages in Gaza, he had “not one word for the thousands of Palestinians incarcerated by Israel in its dungeons”.
“Why did these Palestinians not merit a call for their release from Micheál Martin?” the organisation asked.
“Our government should not be normalising genocide and apartheid, this does not represent us,” the IPSC wrote.
View this post on Instagram
Trump’s comments on the trans community also went unchallenged by Micheál Martin. The US President claimed, “Everything’s transgender. Everybody transgender. That’s all you hear about.”
At another stage, Martin told Trump he is “a great friend of Ireland,” while the President praised Irish contributions to the US. He also said, “I think the Irish love Trump…I have been there many times and we don’t want to do anything to hurt Ireland but we want fairness.”
© 2025 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.
Support GCN
GCN is a free, vital resource for Ireland’s LGBTQ+ community since 1988.
GCN is a trading name of National LGBT Federation CLG, a registered charity - Charity Number: 20034580.
GCN relies on the generous support of the community and allies to sustain the crucial work that we do. Producing GCN is costly, and, in an industry which has been hugely impacted by rising costs, we need your support to help sustain and grow this vital resource.
Supporting GCN for as little as €1.99 per month will help us continue our work as Ireland’s free, independent LGBTQ+ media.
comments. Please sign in to comment.