Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
EVERY YEAR, THE Taoiseach’s trip to the States for St Patrick’s Day is newsworthy, but it is no exaggeration to say this one was extraordinary.
Against the backdrop of a bubbling trade war, fraught efforts for peace in Ukraine and the US President’s stated desire to “empty” Gaza, Micheál Martin’s day in the White House alone would have been enough to meet this threshold.
Add the unanticipated arrival of the media-hungry Burke family into the mix, and a trip that was already so far removed from the norms we are used to, was rocketed even further into the absurd.
The week kicked off in Austin, Texas, where engagements with businesses and enterprise groups went ahead with no major gaffes to report.
The Taoiseach didn’t want to talk about Trump just yet. “There’ll be time for that later,” Irish media was told when asked how he was feeling about the forthcoming meeting with the President.
A meeting on Monday with Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a staunch Trump supporter, seemed to calm any possible nerves ahead of the visit to Trump on Wednesday.
He later stopped by an Enterprise Ireland-organised ‘Pop-up Gaeltacht’ before being quizzed about his chicken fillet roll order on stage at the South By South West Festival (SXSW).
It was revealing that this question made the Taoiseach squirm, but not the one that followed later about US-Irish trade.
As much as his two days in Austin were used to promote economic ties between the Lone Star State and Ireland, they were also used as an opportunity to test the water ahead of the all-important meeting with President Donald Trump.
It was in his answers to questions on trade during the interview at SXSW that we first saw Martin publicly trial his gameplan for difficult questions that might be posed during his dealings with Trump or US Vice President JD Vance.
Two days later, he would deploy the same line of defence in the Oval Office when trade between Ireland and the US was brought up in front of the cameras.
The Taoiseach’s argument that the “extraordinary purchasing” of Ryanair and AirCap does not get captured in the trade figures collected by the US Department of Commerce was one that he repeated again and again while in the US.
On the second day of the Taoiseach’s trip, the relative calm of his stint in Texas was shattered when word came from the remaining reporters travelling from Ireland that the Burke family were travelling on the same Aer Lingus flight to Washington DC.
Speculation was rife.
Was it simply coincidence that Enoch Burke’s parents and two of his siblings, Ammi and Isaac, were on a recreational trip to the US at the same time that the Taoiseach would be in Washington? Or was it a sign of trouble to come and the Burkes were planning some sort of protest while the US media had an interest in Ireland?
A tweet from Elon Musk earlier in the month that acknowledged and seemed to show sympathy for Enoch Burke gave weight to the possibility that they perhaps had even received an invite to the White House for some of the St Patrick’s Day festivities.
Asked about the Burkes being spotted on the flight that Tuesday morning, the Taoiseach was unfazed.
“People are free to travel,” was his response.
Journalists suspected that there would be some sort of drama with the Burkes, we just didn’t know yet the form it would take.
First on the Taoiseach’s schedule after arriving in Washington DC on Tuesday evening was a reception in the Irish Ambassador’s residence.
The €11m nine-bedroom mansion of Ambassador Geraldine Nason Byrne was packed to the brim for the evening’s event.
Behind the scenes of the glitzy gathering, organisers were delighted that the weather was on their side so that the garden could provide some much needed overflow space for the hundreds of guests.
McDonald’s Shamrock Shacks were a hit among the crowd, which included Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Emma Little Pengelly, former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi, star of the Irish version of Dragon’s Den and two-time presidential candidate Seán Gallagher and Irish TDs Mattie McGrath and James O’Connor.
McGrath made the trip over with his son. The pair were on the same Aer Lingus flight as the Burkes, but the Tipperary South TD was none the wiser on what their plans were.
Trump’s former press secretary Sean Spicer was there too and was hard to miss in his green and white shamrock trousers.
Spicer, an Irish American, was in buoyant form and more than happy to share some insight on his former boss ahead of the Taoiseach’s big meeting the next morning.
“There’s no other country on Earth that gets the attention that Ireland does tomorrow,” he told The Journal.
The next morning was an early start for travelling journalists from Ireland, who lined up before sunlight outside the gates of the Naval Observatory, where the US Vice President’s residence is located, to make their way through security ahead of the Taoiseach’s breakfast meeting with JD Vance.
“Morning everybody,” the Vice President said from the front steps of the house to the gaggle of media gathered on his lawn.
“Can we get another handshake, please?,” a photographer shouted back.
“Sure. I’ll do anything for the cameras,” Vance said with a smile as he reached out for the Taoiseach’s hand.
Inside, the Taoiseach and Vance were joined at their table by controversial US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy. US Supreme Court Judge Bret Kavanaugh was also among the guests for the breakfast.
Vance and his wife Usha’s warm welcome to the Taoiseach set the scene for the day.
He struck a humorous note in his speech, showing off his shamrock socks and reminiscing on a road trip he and his wife took around Ireland in 2023.
Despite the friendly tone that was being projected by the Vice President, there was a reminder of his aggressive side.
“The president is a very big fan of conservative dress. So if he notices these socks, you have to defend me,” he joked in the speech. Was this a reference to Trump’s comments about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s decision not to wear a suit when he was in the Oval Office just two weeks ago?
Whether it was or not, one couldn’t help but think of Trump and Vance’s treatment of Zelenskyy that same day.
The Taoiseach addressed the room after Vance, telling the Vice President he would be “honoured and delighted to welcome you back to our shores”.
From there, Martin traveled to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for his meeting with Trump.
It was while waiting for the Taoiseach to arrive that Irish media got word that the Burke family had been spotted nearby outside the barriers of the White House.
As Irish reporters tried to explain the Burkes to our US counterparts, the Taoiseach’s car pulled in and Donald Trump came out to greet him.
A US reporter shot a question at Trump about the US’s latest inflation figures while the pair stood outside the West Wing.
“Very good news,” Trump shouted back.
It was the next part of the day that would draw the big headlines in Ireland.
During the Biden administration, media were briefly allowed into the Oval Office to take photos of the Taoiseach and US President ahead of their private meeting, but under Trump it was a free-for-all of questions and answers.
The Taoiseach sat silently with a slightly bemused look on his face while Trump answered a question about his dismantling of the US Department of Education.
It was a bizarre 50 minutes as Trump held court.
The pair answered questions on topics ranging from Trump’s favourite Irish person (Conor McGregor), comedian Rosie O’Donnell’s move to Ireland, EU tariffs, and Ireland’s housing crisis (a good problem to have, according to the US President).
Throughout the public element of the meeting, the Taoiseach did his best to keep the topics focused on the positives of the Irish-American relationship.
When a question was asked about Sinn Féin’s boycott of the White House this year (which Trump appeared unaware of), the Taoiseach was quick to jump in and divert the conversation to the US’s role in Ireland’s peace process and the Good Friday Agreement.
JD Vance puts his face in his hands when the Taoiseach is asked a question about Rosie O’Donnell moving to Ireland and “lowering Ireland’s happiness level”.
— Jane Matthews (@janeematthews) March 12, 2025
@thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/3AeKmEy5Mr
For Trump’s part, he seemed more cautious than we are used to seeing him. At no point did he outright criticise Ireland.
With the Taoiseach on one side and JD Vance on the other, Trump was complimentary to Ireland, calling us a “smart country”.
“This beautiful island of 5 million people, it’s got the entire US pharmaceutical industry in its grip,” he said at one point, but even then he said this wasn’t Ireland’s fault, it was the fault of previous US administrations.
After this public meeting, there were only 10 minutes left for the Taoiseach and Trump to speak privately, but in what we were told was an unusual move, the pair shared a car to the US Capitol luncheon.
During a speech at this lunch, Trump shared that he had asked the Taoiseach “how many people called you Michael?”
“I’m going to call you Micheál, because that’s the way it is,” he said. It was a strange comment, but one that was seemingly supposed to illustrate that he had respect for the Irish Taoiseach.
Later, at the shamrock ceremony, there was a sense from some US media that they were growing tired of the day’s events.
“What is happening next?,” one asked as we waited for the Taoiseach to arrive and present Trump with the bowl of shamrock.
“A bowl of shamrock? Like a gold shamrock?,” the reporter asked.
Among the packed room for the passing of the non-gold shamrock was Lord of the Dance, Michael Flatley, who got a special shout out from Trump.
“One of the greatest dancers ever in the world,” the President said.
“Can you still dance like that or has Father Time caught up? You know Father Time has never lost, you know that? But you’re doing great, you look fantastic.”
Flatley performed at Trump’s first inauguration in 2017 but has long since retired and recently has not been well.
As the ceremony ended and media were swept out of the room, the verdict was in from some of the US press. The day had gone much better than Trump’s recent meetings with Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron.
“Zelenskyy too, obviously,” the reporter said.
While the day had passed without any huge mishaps, it didn’t stop Trump announcing the next morning that he was going to slap 200% tariffs on alcohol from the EU.
Martin’s message of a two-way street on trade didn’t appear to have sunk in with the US President.
In a usual year, the meeting of the two leaders would have been the meatiest part of the Taoiseach’s trip to Washington.
This year though, the Burkes had other ideas.
As guests arrived at the Ireland Funds Gala, an annual black-tie fundraising event, the Burkes greeted them with a silent protest outside the main door.
The rest of the evening’s events have been well reported, but the family’s disruption led to questions about security at the gala.
The Taoiseach’s security detail were the first to take action when the Burkes interrupted the night’s speeches, with one of his guards holding back both Isaac and Martina while he waited for backup.
The next morning, ahead of the Taoiseach’s arrival at a press conference, one member of security made a show of checking behind the curtains in the conference room – just to be sure.
As the Taoiseach rounded out his week in the States, he gave off an air of confidence.
The soundings from home were, for the most part, positive.
For many people in Ireland, the Taoiseach was sent off this week to fly the Irish flag begrudgingly and with a sense of pragmatism.
The heart didn’t seem to be fully in it this year. Grin and bear it was the approach, and the Taoiseach did just that.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say