Departmental Reports
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-20
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Ruth Coppinger (PBP), Dublin West

A huge amount of resources went from the Department of the Taoiseach last year into trying to strategise and manage the visit to the White House for St. Patrick's Day. I am wondering what the hell level will be needed this year for the Taoiseach to manage such a visit if it goes ahead because we have a demagogue, dangerously unleashed at this point. I was never a fan of the shamrock at the White House. There are other ways of meeting important people without giving that photo opportunity to somebody like Donald Trump. What is the Taoiseach's red line? Trump is a racist who has unleashed ICE to kill people, to strike fear into people of colour, who cannot go into the US right now. He is a tyrant who has invaded Venezuela and kidnapped its leader. That leader will be on trial on 17 March, if the Taoiseach is planning to go. Now Trump is emboldened to attack Greenland. He is a misogynist who has promoted the sexual assault of women and the demeaning of female journalists. He is a known rapist. He was convicted in a civil trial. I know women's lives do not matter much but do children matter because he is obviously a paedophile as well? He is listed in the Epstein files. He is pictured with very young girls constantly. He spied on the dressing rooms at teen pageants. Does any of this matter at all? Will we continue to talk about bread on the table and allow a dangerous demagogue like this to operate on the world?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-20/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:31+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-20