Paul Hopkins: Well faith and begorragh, it’s bigly Mick’s shamrock
Donald Trump changes his mind on a daily basis, more than he changes his boxers, if we're to believe those 'insider sources' – and in a more polar-opposite manner that is downright frightening.
He waffles on that he now doesn't care if a religious leader takes over in Iran – "I'm on friendly terms with many religious leaders" – and that the bombardment of the Islamic nation by the US and Israel will get "more bigly" before he gets better. The fall-out in Middle East countries is accumulating daily with all its attending abhorrence, and shades of the Creationists' belief in the Anti-Christ and Armageddon. (The latter for another day's debate).
The first of two pertinent points: not all EU states on are the same page about Trump and Netanyahu ignoring international law; Britain and Spain, Germany and France all have differing views. Meanwhile, Russia and China, India too, are laughing on the sidelines while Ireland, in all our neutral glory, is sitting on the fence.
The outbreak of war on Iran has left our Government facing a series of political challenges, both moral and practical – how to respond to what is a unilateral assault on Iran, carried out without any reference to the United Nations or boundaries of international law.
The attack appears unprovoked and lacks clear legal mandate, yet our own Helen McEntee, Minister for Foreign Affairs, refuses to be drawn on replying to the fact, insisting our focus should be on "de-escalation". The Taoiseach, however, appears to be changing his tune by clearly calling the attack a "breach of acceptable international law".
Micheál Martin has been under pressure not to undertake the traditional St Patrick's Day visit to the White House and present Trump with a bowl of shamrock and the blessings and begorrahs of the Irish people. Speculation has been rife on whether or not Martin will raise Iran, and other issues like the undocumented Irish in America, when he meets Trump in the Oval Office. Or just sit there as Trump waffles on about leprechauns and his golf resort in Co. Clare.
There has been a sharp drop in support for the Taoiseach going to Washington DC. A Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks poll reveals that 54 per cent are still in favour of Martin going. But that is down from the 74 per cent in 2025.
Those arguing for accepting Trump's invitation say it is more important now that Ireland reaffirm its bond with the US, which transcends one man who temporarily lives in the White House at a rocky moment, in a mutually beneficial relationship that is part and parcel of Irish/American history.
Can Martin sit there availing of all those publicity shots and not mention the Middle East? Not allude to the most recent released documents from the Epstein Files, which clearly refer to FBI investigations in 2019 into Trump's sordid sexual assault on a 13-year-old child back in the late 1980s on Epstein's island?
(All that is needed for evil to thrive is for the good to do nothing).
At best, some see Micheál Martin's visit as a survival exercise for the Taoiseach; get in, have a friendly chat, and get out unscathed. And our butter and Bailey's exports, and our tech and pharma corporate taxes bolstering our economy, might, hopefully, escape the terror of further tariffs.
Taking a stance, declining to attend, might well be the stuff of moral righteousness, yet in the long-run would achieve little, other than make Trump even more apoplectic, the outcome of such on our trade relationship with the US an unknown.
Martin, instead, could party at the Irish embassy in Washington DC instead of the White House. Now, there would be a stance. Only saying. Unlikely though.
More likely, Trump will unveil his shamrock and, with the orange head on him and white pallor, will unashamedly wear our hard-won Tricolour.
Don't mention the war? Yeah, right... And so to the other pertinent point: the last war America won was World War II, and has since become spectacularly bad at winning wars. From Korea to Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, it can fight with all its shock and awe but always eventually loses.
You can invade Iran or Lebanon, win the initial battles, take over the country, befriend the locals, but ultimately suffer a war of attrition against an enemy that doesn’t fear you – Islamic Jihad. It hasn't gone away you know and what's happening right now across the Middle East is literally ashes to its Phoenix.