The Finance Minister said that on St. Patrick’s Day, he “heart fell” when he spotted Conor McGregor in the Oval Office, reports RTE.
The former MMA fighter does not represent Ireland, according to Paschal Donohoe, who also thinks that many people would have been “upset” to see him in the White House.
“My heart fell when I saw Conor McGregor in the Oval Office. It fell as somebody who’s been very proud to represent Ireland in America and elsewhere and it also fell as a man, because Conor McGregor does not represent this country. He doesn’t represent the men of this country,” reports RTE.
According to Mr. Donohoe, the comments Mr. McGregor made in the White House did not demonstrate Ireland’s commitment to diversity and respect, which he said he wanted to make sure people understood.
“We really can’t influence who President Trump wants to invite into the White House. That is a matter for President Trump and for those who work with him. But what we can influence is the message that we give out about ourselves as a country, and in particular, the case that those who are elected make about Ireland,” reports RTE.
“And the case that we make is, like any other country in the world, we’re far from perfect, but we’re also a country that I believe has made great progress in the years and decades up to this point in terms of making the case for diversity, for openness and for respect and for treating each other with kindness and compassion. And that’s the Ireland that I’ll be making the case for,” reports RTE.
Additionally, he disagreed with Mr. McGregor’s claim that Dublin was now among the world’s most dangerous cities.
In response to data indicating that Irish exports to the US rose by over 80% in a single month, Mr Donohoe stated that he and other EU members must convince them that tariffs will raise costs and slow growth.
“There are a number of other countries in the EU that also have a deficit performance and what we need to do now is to work with the US in terms of the issues they’ve raised. That has two different levels to us. The first one is making the case that the use of tariffs will take prices up, take growth down, and take the number of people employed within our economies down too. Secondly, identify different ways in which we can deal with how trade is structured between the US and the EU. In order to do that, we have to negotiate with the US. And I hope the next few weeks will allow us to do that,” reports RTE.
It won’t work for McGregor to run for office, according to Murphy
In the meanwhile, People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy has stated that it will not be acceptable to imply that Mr. McGregor is looking to run for president later this year.
“I think they [Mr McGregor’s suggested ambitions] will go very, very far in a social media site owned by Elon Musk, where a lot of people retweet him and boost him and so on, but I really don’t think they’ll go very far in terms of actually winning public support,” reports RTE.
“He is not a beloved figure in Ireland for all the reasons people know, so I don’t think that will get off the ground in reality, it might exist in Donald Trump’s head and Elon Musk’s head and their various promoters over there, but I don’t think it’ll fly,” Deputy Murphy said, reports RTE.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s “quiet diplomacy” with US President Donald Trump last week is “no longer looking very smart” following Mr. Trump’s “abhorrent” and “really scandalous” White House meeting with Mr. McGregor yesterday, Mr. Murphy added during a news conference in Dublin.
“I think it was really scandalous that Conor McGregor was set up to represent the Irish people on St Patrick’s Day in the White House,” he said, reports RTE.
“He is a man with abhorrent views on a whole range of issues,” he said, adding that it is “abhorrent by the Trump administration to have promoted Conor McGregor in this way”, reports RTE.
Mr Murphy said: “I do think that the so-called quiet diplomacy of Micheál Martin which was lauded by many commentators as being very smart no longer looks very smart, because the truth is while Trump is praising Conor McGregor, Micheál Martin while sitting in a room with him [Donald Trump] didn’t say a single word to contradict him. Clearly the very cowardly bootlicking approach of Micheál Martin is exposed for just that,” Deputy Murphy added, referring to the meeting and the unrelated matter of Israeli assault on Gaza overnight,” reports RTE.
At a legal lawsuit last year, a jury determined that Mr. McGregor had sexually assaulted Nikita Hand at a Dublin hotel in December 2018 and granted her damages of over €250,000.
According to Tánaiste Simon Harris, he knew that Mr. McGregor’s presence at the White House yesterday caused genuine “disgust” in Ireland.
Mr. McGregor does not speak for Ireland, Mr. Harris reaffirmed.
“He doesn’t only not represent our values, he’s actually the opposite of all of the values we’re proud about in Ireland,” Mr Harris said, reports RTE.
“He represents the very worst of toxic masculinity. I think we need to be very clear on that,” reports RTE.
Mr. Harris went on to say that Mr. Trump is free to “have whoever he wants to visit him”
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