Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements Dail Éireann — 2026-06-30 ============================================================ Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central I did not use that phrase so let us be clear about that. I do not want Irish football to be the victim. There are issues with FIFA, as we know. It would not cost FIFA a thought the Irish football team were to be relegated or whatever, and if there were consequences for seedings and if Irish football was set back by potentially a decade. That is an issue. On the visit, the relationship with Ireland is significant for a number of reasons. In terms of the economic relationship, it is extremely important. It puts a lot of bread on the table. It is very important for Irish jobs. President Trump is the democratically elected President of the United States. Whether the Deputy likes that or not is beside the point. He is democratically elected. Successive taoisigh have visited successive presidents of the United States as a way of symbolising the historic and deep relationship between our two countries. The 250th anniversary coming. America will celebrate the Declaration of Independence. Three of the signatories of that declaration were born in Ireland. Approximately 12 had Irish connections. Our relationship is deep and familial, diasporic, economic, cultural and artistic. Visiting the White House and the President is a symbol of all of that, and is an important moment. All the agencies of the State are engaged that week in particular, right across the United States and right across the world. That has strong outcomes for Ireland in job creation, tourism and investment globally as well as in the United States. Deputy Ó Cearúil raised a significant issue about the decision about Fable and Mythos and the restriction put on it. There is an issue around sovereign AI. I met representatives of companies in Canada who made that point to me. There are issues about how we deal it because it is not simple. There is a real issue coming down the tracks if that practice were to continue. I discussed it with Prime Minister Carney. It could lead to a two-tiered scenario, which could have negative implications globally. It is a very significant and serious issue. Deputy Malcolm Byrne is correct about the importance of scholarship programmes between the United States and Ireland. I visited Villanova University. The head of coaching at Villanova is a former schoolmate of mine, Marcus O'Sullivan. He is a world champion from Turner's Cross. He was the year behind me. I saw him as a young guy running in Corca Dhuibhne when we were down there for a month with Coláiste Chríost Rí. I did not realise he subsequently became a world champion but he did. He now heads the coaching operation in Villanova University. I met a chap called Charlie O'Donovan, an ex-Coláiste Chríost Rí youngster, who has run a sub four-minute mile. The Villanova connection with Ireland is long-standing, with Eamonn Coughlan, Ronnie Delaney and all the milers, in particular. It has been phenomenal in its impact on Irish athletics, so it was very good to visit. It is famed in song and story and in athletics, in particular. On extending it to second level schools, that is a very good idea. I will talk to the ambassador and others to see how we could progress that. I have always looked for legal channels of engagement with the United States. I would never recommend that any young person should go to the United States illegally. It is not a journey that a young person should even contemplate because its lifelong implications can be difficult and challenging. We should open as many legal channels of engagement as possible. I was involved with the former deputy Secretary of State, John Negroponte, in doing the graduate working holiday agreement back in 2008 or 2009. I would certainly look at that second level exchange. I thank Deputy Martin Daly for his affirmative comments in respect of my visit to the United States. The economic relationship, as the Deputy outlined well, is enormous. Sometimes it almost amuses me the degree to which it is simply dismissed by certain Deputies in the House as something of no value and that should not feature at all in our consideration of what we do on occasions such as 17 March every year. Thumbing your nose at people and ignoring various people elected to office on the basis of their politics, and not taking on board the damage and consequences for Irish people, is another form of irresponsibility. I appreciate the comments that the Deputy has made. We used the occasion, as the Deputy said, to affirm Europe, European values and the European lived experience, which some in the United States continue to decry. Europe is a good place in which to live. It is a very positive place in its diversity, multiculturalism and freedom of speech. We should never be afraid to champion the positives of what Europe has to offer. On our side, our companies and SMEs are doing well in the United States. Those who engage or scale up in the United States are doing particularly well and many of our companies are exporting and creating jobs in the United States. Deputy Quaide ignored completely the significant work the Government has been doing over recent years, at a European level and globally, on the question of Palestine and the appalling Israeli war on the people of Palestine. The Government recognised the State of Palestine, along with Spain and then Slovenia. We were the only EU member state, although Spain eventually joined, to participate in the South African case. We joined that case, which went for judgment in the International Court of Justice, ICJ. We have moved resolutions at the United Nations. The Deputy ignored all of that. He asked how much more murder it will take. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-30/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:06+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-06-30