Micheál Martin may have come out unscathed from the Oval Office encounter with US president Donald Trump, but the well-known Christian fundamentalist family has managed to embarrass the country.
After a week of stressing the importance of Ireland’s relationship with what is a rapidly shifting America, Martin must have thought he was out of the woods as he attended the annual Ireland Funds dinner on Thursday night.
However, the Washington curse was to strike yet again for Martin, who — during his previous stint as Taoiseach — never made it to the US Capitol because of covid restrictions in 2021.
The following year a positive covid test, which came through as he was sitting down at the Ireland Funds dinner, forced the Taoiseach onto Zoom again as he quarantined in Blair House just metres away from the White House.
Addressing the gathering this week, he half-joked: “I recall sitting down there with you, waiting to go up to speak and getting a tap on the shoulder from my security detail to say: ‘I need to talk to you outside.’ When I got outside, they said: ‘Your test was positive.’
“Remember that? Positive and negative? And that was the end of my opportunity to speak,” he said as the crowd sighed in sympathy.
Just a few minutes later, Martin was plunged into the centre of another drama as Martina Burke and her two children, Ammi and Isaac, managed to gain entry to the black-tie event and made for the Taoiseach shouting and accusing him of imprisoning their family member Enoch.
Members of Enoch Burke's family are ejected from the Ireland Funds 33th National Gala dinner at the National Building Museum in Washington. Picture: Niall Carson/PA
A baffled American crowd looked on as police manoeuvred to pull, drag, and carry the three out of the venue.
As they loudly resisted, shoes were lost, a chair went flying in the air, and two police officers were pushed to the ground.
How did the family gain entry to the gala dinner? Why were security not on alert after spotting them peacefully protesting outside as guests arrived earlier that night?
How did they finance their trip to the US, which appears to be taken with the sole purpose to cause havoc for the Taoiseach?
Perhaps the most pressing question is when will the Mayo family stop this draining nonsense?
With no US media in attendance, their message to Trump will have failed to get the attention of the intended audience.
Martin, however, did manage to get his message into the Oval Office, but whether his emphasis on the reciprocal trade relationship between both countries was listened to remains to be seen.
Cut through the flattery and jokes and Trump’s speaking points had a menacing undercurrent, as he made it clear that he will be coming after our pharmaceutical sector — which he believes has been stolen from the US.
Within hours of the Shamrock Ceremony, Trump was after another Irish export — our whiskey — through a threatened 200% tariff if the EU goes ahead with a planned tariff on American whiskey.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin and US president Donald Trump during the St Patrick's Day reception and Shamrock Ceremony in the the East Room of the White House, in Washington. Picture: Niall Carson/PA
Tariffs would have massive consequences on the industry.
Trump has long been obsessed with the trade deficit between the US and other states and, in the company of Martin, he honed in on the pharmaceutical sector and area — which, if targeted, would leave this country particularly exposed.
Nine of the 10 biggest pharma companies have operations in Ireland — including US giant Pfizer, which has 5,000 employees across four locations in Cork, Dublin, and Kildare.
Pharma and chemical exports to the US are staggering, counting for €58bn of exports last year, which was up from €40bn in 2023.
This in turn has brought in bumper corporation taxes.
Any hopes that little old Ireland and its thriving pharmaceutical industry wouldn’t be on the radar of the president of the US were quickly dashed in the White House this week.
Trump can sometimes be dismissed as a man who shoots from the hip and makes bold statements without little thought of the impact of his words or the consequences of his threats.
However, it was clear that he had done his homework — both on Martin and the country he leads — ahead of their meeting, citing the Taoiseach’s father who he praised as a great boxer.
It was his knowledge of our economic success and bountiful corporation tax that should spark most concern.
Veiled in compliments and smiles, Trump made his intentions clear: “Ireland was very smart, they took our pharmaceutical companies away from presidents who didn’t know what they were doing. It’s too bad that happened. It’s a tremendous job.
“The Irish is smart, you are smart people, and you took our pharmaceutical companies and other companies through taxation, proper taxation. They made it very, very good for companies to move over there,” he said during a 50-minute question and answer session with the media.
Holding court, he added: “Who would have been so stupid to let these deals happen?
"For instance, when the pharmaceutical companies started to go to Ireland, I would have said: ‘That’s OK. If you want to go to Ireland, I think it’s great. But if you want to sell anything into the United States, I’m going to put a 200% tariff from you so you’re never going to be able to sell anything into the United States.’ Do you know what they would have done? They would have stayed here.
“The United States of America is going to take back a lot of what was stolen from it by other countries and by, frankly, incompetent US leadership, grossly incompetent.”
The Taoiseach could only listen on and it must have been an excruciating 28 minutes for Martin as he waited for his chance to interject to point out that trade between Ireland and the US is a “two-way street”.
'Massive trade deficit'
Martin raised Ryanair, which along with fellow Irish-headquartered company Aercap has bought more Boeing airplanes than anybody else outside of America.
“That’s a little-known fact. It doesn’t turn up in different statistics,” Martin said almost pleading with the president.
Trump gave an approving nod but came back to stress the “massive” trade deficit that exists between Ireland and the US.
“I don’t mean by a little bit,” he said.
“I mean there’s a massive deficit that we have with Ireland and with other countries too.”
The big question is how Irish-based US pharma companies might respond to any tariffs.
Some have already pivoted to gain favour with the new administration, announcing investment in the US.
However, for companies like Pfizer — which first located operations here in 1969 — upping sticks and moving would be a considerable decision to make.
The State will have to find ways to support such firms to convince them to weather out any tariff storm here.
