THE TAOISEACH FOUND himself quizzed on negative media coverage about the Ireland-US relationship when appearing on Fox News for an interview last night during his Washington visit.

Ahead of his appearance at the White House today, Micheál Martin appeared on the station’s news-focused Special Report with Bret Baier, where he trumpeted Irish investment into the US and tried to explain where the two countries differ on the war in Iran.

Baier pointed to headlines that claimed the relationship is at its “most strained” since the foundation of the state, which the host said “suggest there’s some tension there” for Martin and US president Donald Trump.

Headlines of Irish and UK media shown during the Fox News piece. Fox News Fox News

Of the Fox News roster, Bair is considered among the more moderate hosts when compared to famously loyal counterparts such as Seann Hannity.

In one notable June 2023 interview, he pushed back repeatedly on Trump’s claims that the 2020 election against Joe Biden was stolen from him, eventually telling the Republican: “You lost the 2020 election.”

In response to Baier’s questions last night, Martin said that last year’s visit to the White House had gone well, and that Trump was “extremely courteous”, even among the heightened concern due to the tariff dispute at that time.

“But you know what, Europe and US managed to get a deal, the Turnberry agreement, and we got a landing zone,” Martin said.

Asked by Baier if he is “considered a whisperer between the US and the EU sometimes”, Martin said that has been a “bit of a bridge” and an “access point for many, many US companies” into the European market.

On the Iran war, Martin said “all wars create uncertainty”, but acknowledged that “you cannot have a rogue state like Iran getting control of nuclear weapons”.

He said that Iran’s regime is “very, very repressive” but that Ireland would prefer “peaceful resolution of conflict”.

“We want, we ultimately believe in diplomacy and dialogue, because we have war ourselves on a terrible 30-year conflict, and we learn a lot in terms of how to resolve conflict,” the Taoiseach said.

In what sounded like a dry run for his St Patrick’s Day appearance at the White House later, the Fianna Fáil leader pointed a recent $6 billion investment into the US and how 800 Irish companies employ some 200,000 people.

“It’s a two-way economic street,” Martin said.