President Donald Trump landed in Dublin on Saturday morning for a two-day visit built around meetings with Irish leaders and a weekend at his golf resort in Doonbeg, arriving to a country bracing for mass demonstrations and a notably frosty reception from Ireland's head of state.
Trump was greeted on the tarmac by Tánaiste Simon Harris and Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee before heading into a full day of diplomacy. His schedule included an hour-long bilateral meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin, followed by a courtesy call on President Catherine Connolly at her official residence, Áras an Uachtaráin, in Phoenix Park. Irish officials said talks would cover EU-US trade, Ukraine, the ongoing Iran war and Palestine, along with Irish purchases of American liquefied natural gas amid rising energy prices.
Martin struck a warm note ahead of the visit, telling reporters the relationship between the two countries carries real economic weight.
The relationship between Ireland and the United States is very important economically. It's very, very significant both ways.
Micheál Martin, Taoiseach of Ireland
A pointedly cool welcome from the Áras
The dynamic with Connolly is far chillier. A former anti-war activist elected president in 2025, Connolly has previously described Trump as a "bully and a misogynist," and the visit is complicated further by the detention of her sister, Dr. Margaret Connolly, by Israeli forces in May during a Gaza-bound aid mission. Irish commentators have noted the awkwardness of a courtesy call between a head of state critical of Washington's Middle East policy and a president overseeing an active air war against Iran.
Organizers expect tens of thousands to march through central Dublin in protest, with a demonstration on O'Connell Street timed to Trump's arrival. Broadcaster and activist Rosie O'Donnell, who has relocated to Ireland and helped organize opposition to the visit, argued Connolly should not soften her public criticism of Trump for the sake of diplomatic niceties.
She should speak truth to power. I don't think she should drop what she believes in to be polite to a madman.
Rosie O'Donnell, protest organizer
Dublin police have mounted a large security operation across the city center, according to the Irish Examiner, anticipating overlapping marches focused on the Iran war, women's rights and Gaza. Trump is also due to deliver remarks at the US ambassador's residence before decamping Saturday evening to his golf resort in County Clare, where he is scheduled to present the trophy at the Irish Open on Sunday.
Irish officials have played down expectations of any concrete deliverable from the trip, framing it instead as a moment to steady a relationship that has been strained by tariff disputes and diverging views on the Middle East. Whether Saturday's meetings ease that friction or simply confirm it will likely become clearer once Trump and Connolly appear together at the Áras.
