Donald Trump visit: Opposition deputies condemn plan and warn of protests

Plans by US president Donald Trump to visit Ireland in November have been condemned by Opposition deputies who said they expected protests .

Labour Senator Aodhán O Ríordáin, who strongly condemned the Government's invitation to Mr Trump in March, said the visit on the back of that invite was "completely and utterly disappointing."

He expects Mr Trump will be greeted by “huge protests,” he said.

He said that it was important for the country to send “a strong message to the Trump administration that we reject absolutely and entirely his kind of politics.”

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“What is disturbing is that we have a unique opportunity in the fact that we lie between Trump and Brexit to speak about the Irish experience and to reject what Trump has stood for, the rhetoric that he is propagating, the lies he is telling, the hate that he is trading and to stand for something a bit more decent and a bit more in keeping with the Irish experience,” Mr O Ríordáin said.

“If we are just going to go along and accept that this person will travel to Ireland then I think the Irish people will have something to say about that.”

He understood the importance of maintaining good diplomatic relations with the US but added: “At what point do you have to say something about this?”

“What is the breaking point where what he does is no longer acceptable?” said Mr O Ríordáin. “It appears that there is no breaking point for this Government when it comes to this man.

Mr Trump’s visit was particularly inappropriate when thousands of “undocumented” Irish in the US are worried about their status due to his anti-immigration rhetoric and policies, he said.

“At what point do we say this individual has crossed a line? Sending an invite is something we shouldn’t do in these circumstances,” said the Labour spokesman on education.

‘No friend of democracy’

A spokeswoman for the Labour Party said that it would “join with like-minded people to oppose this visit.”

“President Trump has shown himself to be no friend of democracy or human rights,” she said.

“While we will always be firm friends of the American people, Ireland will not welcome a man with Trump’s record of discrimination, sexism and lies.”

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett condemned the visit and the Government for inviting the US president, saying that it was "shameful that Leo Varadkar would welcome the odious Donald Trump into this country."

“His poisonous, hate-filled and dangerous politics are not welcome in Ireland and I would urge everybody who opposes war and racism and who cares about equality and the planet to join the protests that we will certainly organise against Trump when he comes,” he said.

Green party leader Eamon Ryan said the government should cancel the planned visit. He called for Irish people to show their disgust and rejection of the Trump administration’s policies by turning out, “as we did during the Iraq War in 2003, in large-scale mass protest around the country”.

“Donald Trump’s administration champions policies that are destroying our planet, destabilising international order, and reaching new political depths by appealing to racism, misogyny, xenophobia and hatred. These policies do not reflect the Irish people’s values - we need to show him and the world that this is not normal. Decency, integrity and fact-based politics still exist and are worth defending. We’re calling on Irish people to tell our Government to cancel this visit; and for them to demonstrate in never-before-seen numbers should they fail to do so.”

Fianna Fáil’s spokesman on foreign affairs Niall Collins said Mr Trump’s visit was “an opportunity for the Government to state Ireland’s position that the need for decency, compassion, respect for international diplomacy and integrity has never been as important and as necessary as it is today.”

Mr Collins said his party believes the Taoiseach should use the visit to “press home Ireland’s commitment to multilateralism as a way of solving the challenges affecting our planet’s people.”

Boost for West of Ireland

Clare Co Councillor Bill Chambers, who represents the area that includes Mr Trump’s hotel and golf resort in Doonbeg, said it would be “a great boost for the West of Ireland” if the US President came to visit.

“They’d be mad about him coming there. There was up to 300 people working there over the summer and it is a great boost for the people of Doonbeg.”

The Fianna Fáil councillor said he personally would welcome a visit from President Trump who, he noted, visited his hotel and golf resort in Scotland while on his recent visit to the UK. “If he comes to Ireland I’d say he’ll come to Doonbeg as well, but of course we don’t know anything about his arrangements yet.”

Michael Begley, the independent Mayor of Clare, said the staff in Doonbeg, who are “exceptionally well treated”, would no doubt welcome a visit from President Trump. He said he would not like to comment on the “political issue of his coming here” until more was known about what is happening and where President Trump might be going.

Hugh McNally, a cousin of US vice president Mike Pence and owner of Morrissey’s pub in Doonbeg, said a number of members from Trump’s nearby golf club were drinking in the bar when word came through about the US president’s visit in November.

He and the customers were “all extremely excited” and “optimistic that the visit will be great for the area and put Doonbeg on the map,” he said.

“He will be welcomed back to this area with open arms. He has been great for the village,” said Mr McNally.

“He promised two things back in 2014 when he bought Doonbeg: he would invest in the property and sustain the employment. He has done both of those things. He is very much in favour in the Doonbeg area.”

Potential scheduling problem

The visit of Mr Trump - who is travelling to France to participate in a November 11th commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended the fighting in World War I - presents a potential scheduling problem for the government. Minister for Local Government Eoghan Murphy announced this week that the inauguration of the next President of Ireland will take place on November 11th

Though the government said it was constitutionally bound to hold the Presidential inauguration on that date, Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin has led calls for the date to be changed.

A Government spokesman said on Friday night “the Taoiseach understands that President Trump will stop in Ireland for a brief visit on his way to or from the Armistice commemorations in Paris.

"It will be an opportunity to follow up on the issues discussed in the White House in March including migration, trade, climate change and human rights issues," said the spokesman.