LAST UPDATE | 30 Aug 2019

US VICE PRESIDENT Mike Pence’s visit to Ireland has been brought forward to Monday.

A government spokesperson confirmed this afternoon that Pence would be meeting the Taoiseach on Tuesday.  

The US Vice President was due to arrive in Ireland in a week’s time for the visit, which was announced earlier this month.

Earlier, an official with knowledge of the planning said it was very likely that Pence would now arrive in Ireland on Monday instead for the two-day visit, departing Wednesday morning. 

That has now been confirmed. 

The reason for the change of plans is that Pence is taking US president Donald Trump’s place at World War II anniversary commemorations in Poland, after the president said he needed to remain in the US to deal with the approaching Hurricane Dorian.

“To ensure that all resources of the federal government are focused on the arriving storm, I have decided to send our vice president, Mike Pence, to Poland this weekend in my place,” Trump said last night.

Pence will attend the ceremony on Sunday, and as he will be in Europe anyway, will travel onto Ireland afterwards, arriving on Monday. 

It is believed that Pence will arrive in Shannon on Monday evening and stay overnight in Trump Doonbeg – the golf resort owned by Donald Trump, where the president stayed earlier this year. 

Pence will then travel to Dublin on Tuesday where he will meet with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, before staying another night in Doonbeg and departing on Wednesday.