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LAST UPDATE | 1 May
AT A CONFIRMATION hearing for the US ambassador to Ireland, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee urged the nominee to “ensure our friends in Ireland understand America strongly supports Israel”.
Edward Sharp Walsh is an American businessman who has been nominated by US president Donald Trump to serve as the US ambassador to Ireland.
The previous US ambassador to Ireland was Claire Cronin, whose term ended when Biden left the White House.
Walsh told the Committee that he will be able to “exercise diplomacy from the green lawns of Ireland’s golf courses”.
Walsh is a member of Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, New Jersey.
When Trump announced that he would nominate Walsh to the role, he remarked that Walsh is a “a Champion Golfer, a very good asset for the Ambassador of Ireland to have.”
Republican Senator Jim Risch is the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
He described Ireland as a “gateway for the critical telecom infrastructure linking Europe and the United States”.
He added that this “strategic position comes with significant responsibility to address the very real threats to it” and called on Ireland to “increase defence spending to safeguard vital undersea cables from our shared enemies”.
Risch meanwhile described the decision by Ireland to recognise the state of Palestine as a “mistake”.
“This recognition fails to acknowledge actual conditions on the ground and worse, the horrific attack against Israel on 7 October,” said Risch.
Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Cmte, Sen Risch calls on possible new US Ambassador to Ireland Edward Walsh to talk to Irish govt about increasing defence spending to protect undersea cables and the country’s stance on Palestine pic.twitter.com/rXCIoJJ9ZC
— Jackie Fox (@jackiefox_) May 1, 2025
He added: “Until Hamas is destroyed, a Palestinian state seems exceptionally unlikely.
“Calls for statehood fail to recognize that Israel can no longer tolerate terrorists in Gaza or in Lebanon.
“I hope you will ensure that our friends in Ireland will understand that America strongly supports Israel.”
Walsh told the Committee he was “honoured” to be the nominee for ambassador to Ireland and that he would work to promote US interests in Ireland if confirmed.
He said one of the “foremost priorities” will be enhancing the “economic partnership” between the US and Ireland.
Meanwhile, he remarked that Trump has “made it very clear that Israel is a close ally of ours and that antisemitism has no room in the entire world”.
“I look forward to working constructively on the issues contributing to the tensions between Israel and Ireland.”
Elsewhere at the hearing, Republican Senator Ted Cruz said the International Criminal Court (ICC) has been “engaged in a campaign against our Israeli allies” and that it has issued arrest warrants against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“These warrants are utterly illegitimate,” claimed Cruz, who added that the ICC is “setting a precedent to go after countries who are not members of the Court, which exposes American soldiers and officials”.
“Ireland has filed a motion to directly boost the ICC campaign,” said Cruz.
Last November, both Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris said that they would execute the arrest warrant issued against Netanyahu.
And last month, Netanyahu’s plane avoided Irish airspace on his flight from Hungary to the US due to arrest fears.
Cruz said Ireland’s support for the ICC “endangers core American interests” and asked Walsh how he “intends to approach these issues”.
Walsh said that while he hadn’t been “full briefed”, he is aware that it’s a “big issue and a big concern”.
He said he would “hold Ireland reliable to help us”.
“We’re an ally of Israel so it’s a difficult conversation and I’d be glad to relay president Trump’s message over to them at any time.”
Meanwhile, Republican Senator Lindsay Graham introduced Walsh at the hearing today.
Graham remarked that “we all like stopping (in Ireland) on our way to some place else”.
“And now that Ed’s going to be ambassador, I’m going to stay a bit longer.”
He added: “To our friends in Ireland, you’re getting one of the closest friends that president Trump has and that will benefit you because when Ed picks up the phone, president Trump will answer.”
Graham added: “And in this business, that matters.”
He noted that Walsh is a real estate developer in New Jersey and founder of The Walsh Company.
“And being in New Jersey, I’m sure that is a challenging task, to be in the real estate business.”
Graham remarked that Ireland is a very welcoming place where “people are full of life” and that Ireland has been a “good ally of the United States.”
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I was under the impression that the county boundary wouldn’t change, the areas in question would just be administered by the other council. This situation makes perfect sense when you consider places in county Clare in the vicinity of Limerick city or Waterford port been in kilkenny or these areas of athlone for example
Yea, I’m still not clear. Are they talking about changing actual county borders or just local authority boundaries?
Most of Limerick City west of the Shannon was in Clare and in Connacht for that matter
What are you on about?
@Ken Mitchell: The county border boundries as such won’t change, this isssue concerns the area of Monksland which is to the West of Athlone and therefore in Co. Roscommon. Monklands has a large retail sector, industrial estate and residential housing estates all which make a very significant contribution to the Roscommon County Council coffers. If this was lost to Athlone Town Council it would represent a massive fall in revenue for Roscommon which impacts the rest of the county hence why it is such an emotive subject
No, they wanted to actually change the border. This would habe resulted in monksland, Roscommon’s second largest town now being in westmeath.
@Tweety McTweeter: The government doesn’t have the authority to tell the people or the GAA what county they are in. This was administrative only, and would’ve made a whole heap of sense.
As with Kilkenny and Waterford, people seem concerned only with the revenues their local authority would lose and which a ‘rival’ local authority would gain. Yet, the areas in question are densely populated and require that revenue for their own maintenance. This is the same attitude that had Leitrim zoning enough residential for a city, and Meath trying to building enough houses for the entire region during the celtic tiger years. Just collect as much revenue as possible, and compete with your neighbouring county to do so. As public policy, it makes zero sense.
The fact is that if you lose the commercial rates from an area, you also lose the responsibility of looking after that area. When you are unable to live up to that responsibility because the area in question is part of a city/town in another council’s area, maybe you losing the revenue is an acceptable sacrifice to avoid the mismanagement of the densely populated urban periphery.
In this case, Athlone will continue to be split between two counties, for reasons that are entirely resolvable. Given that Westmeath and Roscommon belong to the same state, I’m sure there could’ve been a transitional arrangement to ease the apparent burden of losing a cash cow.
It’s heated border disputes like this that make me glad we are part of the EU in order to preserve the peace.
Everyone who lives near the Roscommon/Westmeath border knows the savages on the other side are absolute animals with no respect for their neighbours.
If you ever want a visual definition of what a “bacon & cabbage head” looks like….look no further than Michael Fitzmaurice.
Better than looking at a scrawny no face such as yourself ‘eircodes’ I’d say you’re about as attractive as a rotten turnip judging by your snot flicking comments.
@Get Lost Eircodes:
Play the man good lad. Did you get your eircode yet?
Just as long as the y don’t construct a ‘Hard Boundary’ where innocent Hill Walkers might fall over any holes left in it.
Really doesn’t matter … English set the boundaries after the conquest…. boundaries are just a convenience.
It was actually the Normans who set the borders – hence why they’re named ‘CountyX’ rather than ‘Xshire’, ‘county’ being derived from Old French.
Pure and simple, bring back ming the merciless!
You might have to review that Harry…
Which part? The shire (‘scir’ as it was in Anglo-Saxon) was an existing unit of division in England when the Normans invaded. The Normans simply tacked ‘-shire’ onto most of the existing land divisions (apart from places like Kent for example which were named for old kingdoms). In Ireland on the other hand they started more or less from scratch. Contrast with Scotland, which also uses ‘shire’ rather than ‘county’ – this began under the English-speaking population that lay outside of Norman control.
Terrible article, doesn’t explain the situation.
” he was concerned any change could disrupt his constituent’s lives.”
excuse my ignorance, but in what way would it affect people’s lives? it sounds dramatic
From an Englishman’s perspective, county boundaries seem to matter a lot more in Ireland than they do over here. Take for instance how the GAA still rigidly adheres to the 32 historic county model. Or how any discussion of Irish partition invariably makes reference to 6/26 counties even though in NI they now use districts rather than counties as political units.
The English completed the shiring of Ireland when Wicklow was given county status. The GAA then used the English county system as a base for their own competitions. GAA should grovel on its knees and thank Mother England for bestowing on them such a useful organizational unit. Notice how embedded this is when the new counties in the Dublin area cannot field their own county teams, for example Fingal.
It’s funny how even in the North, unionists identify with the traditional counties also.
have your say