TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has said the government has concerns about the commentary contained in a national security policy document recently published by the United States. 

In the latest edition of the US National Security Strategy, Donald Trump’s administration laid out its vision for how it will interact with all regions of the world, but the section about relations with Europe in particular contained some broad swipes at what have traditionally been America’s closest allies. 

Much of the section on Europe blamed immigration for what it describes as “civilisational erasure”, while it also claimed that European states were “trampling” on freedom of expression and stifling political opposition. 

The document, which contained language that aligns very closely with the racist conspiracy theory known as the “Great Replacement”, also tied American concerns about the effects of immigration on Europe to the future of US-European cooperation on security and economic issues.  

It said Europe’s “economic decline is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilisational erasure” and that “as such, it is far from obvious whether certain European countries will have economies and militaries strong enough to remain reliable allies”.

Speaking to reporters ahead of a cabinet meeting this morning, and a later engagement in Dublin with the President of the European Council António Costa, Martin said the US policy paper had been discussed by government ministers yesterday.

“There’s a broad range of issues there, but we would have concerns about some of the commentary with respect to Europe, the nature of commentary,” Martin said without going into detail.

He added that “it’s not clear yet how representative that is at a broader view within the US administration”.

While the Taoiseach largely skirted the substance of the US document, his Fianna Fáil colleague, MEP Barry Andrews, did not.

Andrews called it “shocking” and said it showed “President Trump and his MAGA movement are clearly aiming to directly undermine the European Union and everything it stands for in the world”.

He criticised the fact that the document “does not criticise Russia once” and that is “celebrates the rise of the far-right in many European countries”.

“The document even admits the US will support ‘resistance’ to mainstream politics in various European countries,” Andrews said. 

This is nothing other than a call for regime change in Europe. We need to wake up to the reality of the current US Administration.

Martin, meanwhile, stressed that the EU and the US have recently worked closely together to “resolve the tariff issue in a reasonable way”.

He also said they had “maintained, through the ‘coalition of the willing’, good engagement in respect of the security situation in Europe and in particular Ukraine”, referring to an initiative led by the UK, France and Germany to keep up support for Kyiv. 

The part of the US strategy document that refers to Russia and its war against Ukraine takes particular aim at Germany, saying:

“The Trump Administration finds itself at odds with European officials who hold unrealistic expectations for the war perched in unstable minority governments, many of which trample on basic principles of democracy to suppress opposition.”

Martin also addressed the recent incident in which drones were observed near the flight path of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy – first reported by The Journal – while he visited Ireland last week. 

He said that investigations were ongoing but declined to disclose any details. 

More broadly, he said, “There has been a pattern across Europe this year in respect of the emergence of drones,” specifically referring to incidents in Belgium, France, Denmark, while added that there have been “hybrid attacks” in eastern European states as well.  

Need more clarity and context on how migration is being discussed in Ireland? Check out our FactCheck Knowledge Bank for essential reads and guides to finding good information online.