Trump to Meet Irish Leaders in Dublin Before Doonbeg Golf Weekend
Trump arrives in Dublin for talks with Ireland's leaders and a business address, then travels to Doonbeg to watch the Irish Open at his golf club.
President Donald Trump arrives in Dublin on Saturday for a weekend visit centred on a major golf tournament at a course he owns on Ireland's Atlantic coast.
He is scheduled to hold separate meetings with Irish President Catherine Connolly and Prime Minister Micheál Martin. Trump will also speak to US and Irish business leaders at the US ambassador's official residence in Dublin before travelling to his oceanfront golf club in Doonbeg, on the opposite side of the country, to watch the Irish Open, which concludes on Sunday.
Police have erected a cordon around Dublin's 1,750-acre Phoenix Park, where Trump will meet Martin, the taoiseach, at the government's Farmleigh state guesthouse. He will also call on the president at her residence, Áras an Uachtaráin, and stop at Deerfield, the US ambassador's residence.
The trip has drawn criticism in the Irish capital. Some residents voiced frustration at the disruption. A taxi driver, Christopher Fox, said Trump was "causing mayhem in this city because he wants to go down to Doonbeg and play golf," adding that the world was in turmoil while the president played golf. University student Mina Petrovski described Trump's attitudes towards women, immigrants and minority communities as abhorrent and called it shameful that the Irish government was welcoming him.
A collection of left-leaning opposition parties, anti-military groups, pro-Palestinian organisations and environmentalists, among others, plan to demonstrate against Trump in Dublin on Saturday.
Trump flew to Ireland overnight after observing the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. He spent the two nights before Friday's observance delivering lengthy speeches at a political rally in Dallas.
Martin invited Trump to visit Ireland when the two met at the White House on St Patrick's Day this year. Ireland's political leaders are likely to view the visit as an opportunity to maintain warm transatlantic relations despite differences over trade and foreign policy, issues the White House said Trump wants to discuss.
Trump is an avid golfer who plays almost every weekend at clubs he owns in Florida, New Jersey and Virginia. His attendance at the Irish Open continues a pattern of appearing at high-profile sporting events and helping organise some in ways that benefit his family business. His clubs in Doral, Florida, and Bedminster, New Jersey, have each hosted professional golf tournaments this year.
The Irish Open is the second European Tour event staged at a Trump property this year, after the Nexo Championship was held last month at his course in Aberdeen, Scotland. Last year, Trump spent five days in Scotland playing golf at his Turnberry club and later inaugurated a new Trump course in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire. During that visit, he held talks with the British prime minister and the president of the European Commission.