Trump’s visit to Ireland: how is the country reacting?

(An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, and US President, Donald Trump, at the White House on St. Patrick’s Day. Credit: Sky News.)

US President Donald Trump is set to visit his golf club in Doonbeg, Co. Clare, this weekend, 12 September to 13 Septmeber. 

The 47th President of America will be touching down in Dublin in the early hours of Saturday 12 September, before making his way to Phoenix Park and meeting with An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, and President Catherine Connolly. 

The president is likely to fly out on the new Air Force One, a Qatari-gifted, refurbished Boeing 747-8 jet valued at an estimated $400m (€345m). The high-value gift from a foreign country to the US president has been causing controversy, especially as Trump seeks to prove its worth. 

Reports from CBS News and others last month described Mr Trump’s apparent annoyance and anger at having to secretly leave the new jet (reportedly hiding in a catering truck) as he left a NATO summit in Turkey following an apparent security threat. 

The controversies around the plane were only compounded when, just last Wednesday 9 September, the president was delayed from boarding the jet to Texas as the emergency inflatable slide deployed and workers had to remove it. 

President Trump will drive from Dublin Airport to Phoenix Park following his arrival on Air Force One. He is expected to be flown from Phoenix Park by helicopter on Marine One to his golf club, Trump International Golf Links, via Shannon Airport.

(A strong Garda presence stands in Doonbeg village on Friday. Credit: AP Media.)

Widespread traffic disruptions are expected across Dublin, the M50, most of Clare and part of the West, as Gardaí shut down roads to cover Trump’s visit. Multiple areas and roads have been shut down entirely, with all of Phoenix Park having been shut since 11pm last night. 

Protests are expected across the country, especially in Dublin, Shannon Airport and around Doonbeg. At Trump International Golf Links & Hotel, General Manager Joe Russell believes; “if protests happen, they happen”. 

Speaking with RTÉ’s News at One on the potential for protests, Mr Russell explained it had all; “been discussed and An Garda Síochána are well experienced in dealing with them and we’ll leave that in their capable hands”. 

With the Irish Open being hosted in Mr Trump’s club this weekend, thousands were already expected to be attending Doonbeg, but Trump’s personal attendance has only strengthened these numbers. 

Mr Russell stated to RTÉ; “It’s sold out on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I think that will be the maximum capacity that we would have. DP World Tour appear to be very satisfied with their ticket sales and their arrangements around the resort now.” 

An Garda Síochána have declared Trump’s visit an ‘Extraordinary Event’. This means the Gardaí will develop a ‘national roster’ from Wednesday 9 September to Monday 14 September. Garda staff and trainees from the Garda College will also be reallocated to support the operation. 

With a national roster deployed, the vast majority of the Garda force of around 14,000 are involved in Trump’s security, with an estimated nearly 10,000 12-hour shifts to be performed by Gardaí between Friday and Sunday. 

An Garda Síochána further stated that; “the policing and security operation for the visit of the 47th President of the United States of America will be one of the biggest policing and security operations implemented by An Garda Síochána” in the Republic’s history. 

(Assistant Garda Commissioner Paul Cleary and Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly. Credit: Sam Boal/Collins.)

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly spoke to the media on Friday morning, stating that; “there will be no tolerance for public disorder or attempts to impact critical infrastructure or movements of the president of the United States”. 

“We have robust policing plans in place and will arrest and prosecute those committing offences,” he said, “We will have water cannons on standby for this weekend. We hope we don’t have to utilise that, but if we need to, that’s what we have it for.” 

This force includes dozens of off-duty Gardaí who are expected to be brought into the operation, with officers being required to travel from miles away to police the event. With places across Clare booked out, thanks to both the Irish Open and the newly added pressure of an estimated 1,000 Americans accompanying President Trump, accommodation for Gardaí is thin. 

As the stress of the visit falls on more and more Gardaí’s shoulders, reports last week only served to grow ire. 

According to The Journal, officers have been told that they must find (and pay for) somewhere to stay themselves. 

With hotel prices reaching four figures within travelling distance of County Clare, a group of rank-and-file Gardaí have labelled the arrangements “nothing short of a shambles”. 

Other reports suggest some Gardaí have threatened not to show up due to the debacle. 

Following these revelations, an appeal for anyone with spare rooms or accommodation for the Gardaí was posted to social media by the Doonbeg Community Development Organisation. 

Offers of help were reportedly “overwhelming”, according to Garda Dominic Curtin of the Clare Garda Representative Association. 

Despite these offers, some Gardaí will be staying at the G Hotel here in Galway and be bussed down over 180km to Clare to work. Protests are planned around the hotel. 

A wide range of groups, including political parties, rights groups and anti-war organisations, such as the Irish Neutrality League, will hold a ‘No Welcome for Trump’ protest, where they will march from the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin to the Dáil, starting on Saturday at 1pm. 

Further protests are planned for Doonbeg, as well as Shannon Airport. 

(Labour’s Ciarán Ahern, Helen O’Mahony of Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Senator Patricia Stephenson, Sara O’Rourke of Irish Neutrality League, People Before Profit’s Richard Boyd Barrett and Sinn Féin’s Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire at Buswells Hotel on Wednesday. Credit: The Irish Times.)

In a statement, Sara O’Rourke from the Irish Neutrality League said;

“The political establishment are trying to turn the Trump visit into a security issue. However, the vast majority of the Irish people abhor his policies and this needs to be expressed. We are appealing to people to join our protest against his visit.” 

Recent polls by the Sunday Independent and Ireland Thinks reveal that 69 percent of the Irish people do not support Trump’s visit. 

Politico, the American political news site, reported on 11 September 2026 that, speaking on condition of anonymity, a high-ranking government official described the attitude of the coalition towards Trump’s visit;

“He invited himself to Ireland to see the golf. That’s grand. We need to get him through Dublin as smoothly and trouble-free as possible. Smiling faces, nice pictures, no friction,” the senior government official said. 

While huge efforts are being made for this visit, President Trump was reportedly disappointed when the Irish Government would not shut down Dublin city centre to allow the US President to visit the future site of the new American embassy. 

“A groundbreaking ceremony in the middle of the capital would have been a security and logistical nightmare,” the Irish official said, according to Politico. 

This visit of a US president to Ireland is unlikely to look like most we have known, with this visit meant to be a lot less theatrical than many in the past. There will be no drinking pints of Guinness in a quaint Irish pub, nor will Trump be addressing the Oireachtas and Seanad or ringing the peace bell with President Connolly. 

Many will be sitting with bated breath as President Catherine Connolly meets the controversial US president, whose political ideology tends to differ greatly from hers. 

During her run and eventual election, many news outlets, especially those in America, stressed Mrs Connolly’s left-wing views, with the Associated Press describing the president as; “a left-wing, anti-establishment figure who is outspoken on Gaza”. 

Politico recently described Connolly as a “Socialist” and recalled President Connolly’s pre-presidency comment; “I have difficulty calling him ‘President Trump’.” 

President Connolly, before running for Áras an Uachtaráin, spoke on her potential tension with President Trump; 

“We have a president, Trump, who is volatile, unpredictable, acting like a bully, bringing in tariffs when it suits him,” the president said to RTÉ’s This Week. 

US President Donald Trump’s only public comments on the Irish president were during Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s St Patrick’s Day visit to the White House. 

Following a question to Trump on President Connolly’s labelling of America’s attacks on the Middle East as “deliberate assaults on international law”, President Trump stated; “He’s lucky I exist,” in reference to Mrs Connolly. 

(US President Donald Trump on St. Patrick’s Day, misgendering Irish President Catherine Connolly. Credit: APT News.)

President Catherine Connolly has also chosen to make a particularly poignant visit following her meeting with President Trump. On Sunday, Mrs Connolly will be travelling to Bohermore Cemetery in Galway to attend a memorial for women who lived and died in Galway’s Magdalene Laundry. 

Political parties have been clear in their opinions on Trump’s visit, although not all have chosen the same direction to make this heard. 

The Labour Party decided to post a graphic of Donald Trump alongside a list of words in Irish. The title read “Fáilte Romhat Trump”, and the list of words included “ciníoch”, meaning racist, “amadán”, meaning idiot, and “naircisíoch”, meaning narcissist. 

(The Labour Party’s post to Instagram on Donald Trump’s visti. Credit: Instagram, @labourparty.]

Speaking to the press, Mary Lou McDonald, leader of Sinn Féin, hoped that President Connolly would speak to Trump on matters such as the “ongoing facilitation of a genocide in Gaza”, while adding that Sinn Féin will be at protests taking place on Saturday. 

The Social Democrats took to social media with a range of graphics outlining why “there should be no céad míle fáilte for Donald Trump”. 

They highlighted that the security of the visit alone will cost the Irish taxpayer close to €20 million. They went on to recall Trump’s involvement with Jeffrey Epstein, his 1996 liability case for sexual abuse of E. Jean Carroll, and that Trump “has armed and funded Israel’s genocide and complete destruction of Gaza”. 

(The Social Democrats’ post to Instagram on Donald Trump’s visti. Credit: Instagram, @social_democrats.)

People Before Profit’s Richard Boyd Barrett said in a statement; “I strongly urge people to get out on the streets to protest against Trump […] Trump is a monster and bully who is up to his neck in the horrific genocide being inflicted by Israel on the people of Palestine […] The illegal and murderous war he has started with Israel against Iran is causing death and destruction across the Middle East but is also leading to severe economic hardship for people in this country and across the world.” 

Micheál Martin, as leader of Fianna Fáil and Taoiseach, spoke on Trump and President Connolly’s meeting, saying that it is “appropriate and proper” for the two to meet and it will “be grand”. 

(An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, speaking on President Connolly’s future meeting with President Trump. Credit: The Journal.)

Speaking to the press, Tánaiste Simon Harris, leader of Fine Gael, said the visit was a chance “to showcase our country”. 

An Tánaiste also labelled Trump’s new $5,000 pledge to Americans, should the Republican Party win the midterm elections, as “peculiar”. 

Away from politics, the original event at the heart of this all, the Irish Open, and its members seem to see only good coming from this visit by the sitting US president. 

“We are all happy to be here, grateful to be here, and his [Trump’s] presence at the Irish Open makes it a truly international event,” Rory McIlroy, esteemed Irish golfer, said at a press conference in Doonbeg. 

“That brings more attention and eyeballs, and that can only be a good thing,” he continued. 

As the hours grow shorter until the US president lands on Irish soil, many will be anxious to see it over. From protesters to politicians, this act of American diplomacy is one that many would have rather done without. 

For now, we can only hope (or not) that the fourth assassination attempt on President Trump’s life does not happen while in Éire.