‘Majority do not welcome him’: Trump heads to Ireland amid fury over Gaza

Donald Trump is acceptable to get successful Ireland connected Saturday, but astir Irish radical aren’t blessed astir it.

A caller canvass by the Sunday Independent and Ireland Thinks reported that 69 percent bash not enactment the US president’s visit.

Recommended Stories

• list 1 of 4Trump’s Iran warfare present has a midterm predetermination problem
• list 2 of 4The Trump-to-Mamdani elector is real. How does the inclination impact the midterms?
• list 3 of 4Will Trump wage each US adults $5,000? Some Trump supporters are sceptical
• list 4 of 4Trump jokes Republicans tin ‘cheat similar hell’ successful the midterms

“Thousands of america volition march connected Saturday due to the fact that we garbage to normalise a antheral who has facilitated genocide,” Sean Radcliffe, an economics undergraduate pupil astatine Trinity College Dublin, told Al Jazeera.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin “should accidental it clearly, firmly, and publicly: the United States is facilitating genocide,” added Radcliffe, who is simply a person of the pupil body’s Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions campaign.

Sean Corcoran, an biology creator based connected the Copper Coast successful Waterford, spent 5 hours with 3 others carving “No Kings” – a motion to anti-Trump protests nether the aforesaid sanction successful the US, on with “Gaza, Iran, Ice,” into the soil of Dublin Bay Beach.

“As an Irish creator and citizen, I judge it is important for maine to usage my dependable to stock my sentiment astir the Trump administration,” helium told Al Jazeera. “Despite the diplomatic and information invited that Mr Trump volition person erstwhile helium lands successful Ireland, the bulk of Irish bash not invited him to Ireland.”

Many successful Ireland are utilizing Trump’s sojourn arsenic a mode to amusement their choler implicit US policies [Courtesy: Uplift]

Trump is expected to conscionable with respective figures successful Ireland’s leadership, including Martin and antiwar President Catherine Connolly, who has antecedently said the US is, on with France and England, a federation Ireland “certainly cannot trust”.

Protests are planned passim Ireland, including successful Dublin’s Garden of Remembrance. Many are themed against Trump’s relation successful supporting Israel’s actions successful Palestine.

Ireland, 1 of the West’s astir vocal critics of Israel, was the first European Union country to prohibition imports from amerciable Israeli settlements.

Roughly 4,000 information unit volition beryllium enlisted to support the US person from protests and different risks during his visit, including astir 1,000 US Secret Service agents and “anti-drone weaponry”.

Following his visits with Ireland’s governmental elites and the US ambassador to Ireland, resulting successful the impermanent shutdown of Phoenix Park, 1 of Europe’s largest parks, helium is expected to sojourn the Irish Open play tourney successful Doonbeg, wherever Trump owns a resort.

Connolly, whose relation is mostly ceremonial, has said that she is “not acrophobic to basal against the consensus”. She secured a landslide triumph successful October 2025.

During her campaign, Connolly said she would conscionable the US president successful her authoritative capacity, but added that “I uncertainty that [genocide] would beryllium the discussion, I uncertainty that [Gaza] would beryllium connected the agenda”.

“People expect a somewhat much activistic president who mightiness talk out,” Johan Dornschneider-Elkink, prof of Computational Political Science astatine University College Dublin, told Al Jazeera. “The precocious level of statement successful the Irish colonisation means that the president tin besides consciousness a spot comfy pushing it a bit.”

Still, the limitations of Connolly’s role, and the economical obligations of the taoiseach are expected to overshadow the contented of Palestine during high-level conversations.

‘Ireland is precise overmuch aligned successful spirit’

“I deliberation [the protest] shows that Ireland is precise overmuch aligned successful tone and policy-wise with the Palestinian people; they precise overmuch place with Palestine,” Stephanie Dornschneider-Elkink, subordinate prof of Political Science astatine University College Dublin, told Al Jazeera.

“But there’s besides lone truthful overmuch abstraction to beryllium critical. Ireland depends connected the US, and there’s an economical narration astatine stake.”

Johan added that the sojourn is much an accidental for Irish radical who privation to marque known their stance connected some Palestine and the Trump administration.

“There’s an knowing that Trump is 1 president among many, and determination volition beryllium different president. There’s a longer past of the Irish-US narration which cipher wants to spot damaged.”

Leader of the Opposition Mary Lou McDonald of Sinn Fein, told journalists this week that she hoped Connolly would rise issues similar “ongoing facilitation of a genocide successful Gaza,” adding that the enactment volition instrumentality portion successful Saturday’s protests.

The party’s spokesperson connected overseas affairs, trade, and defence, Donnchadh O Laoghaire TD, shared connected his Instagram that helium would articulation the protestation successful the Garden of Remembrance, asking others to articulation him “to basal up against genocide and against war”.

US President Donald Trump and Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheal Martin be a St Patrick’s Day reception successful the East Room astatine the White House successful Washington, DC, connected March 17, 2026 [Kylie Cooper/Reuters]

The objection is organised by the Irish Neutrality League, successful conjugation with the Irish Anti-War Movement and societal justness question Tonn na Cle, and has received endorsements from the Social Democrats, Labour, People Before Profit-Solidarity, and the Green Party, successful summation to Sinn Fein.

Student groups successful Ireland person been among the loudest voices of pro-Palestine organising successful the country, with Trinity College Dublin becoming the archetypal assemblage successful the satellite to officially sever ties with Israel.

Radcliffe said determination is nary generational disagreement “of immoderate significance” implicit the Israel-Palestine struggle successful Ireland.

“Some of the champion [pro-Palestine] activists I cognize successful Ireland are pensioners,” helium said.