Taoiseach Micheál Martin is expected to outline a planned €5.2 billion ($6.1 billion) investment during his meeting with US president Donald Trump at the White House on St Patrick’s Day, reports Breaking News.
Mr Martin is set to discuss the proposals with Mr Trump in the Oval Office, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal, reports Breaking News.
The reported investment package includes $5 billion over five years from packaging company Smurfit Westrock, $1 billion from Kingspan, and $100 million from nutrition company Glanbia.
Enterprise Ireland chief executive Jenny Melia said “we are now at record levels of investment” in the United States, reports Breaking News.
Irish firms are also expected to announce plans to increase their support for Amazon and other US data centre operators.
CEL Critical Power, which provides power solutions for data centres, plans to expand an Amazon data centre that opened last year in Williamsburg, Virginia, with the move expected to double its workforce to 500 employees by 2030, according to Enterprise Ireland, reports Breaking News.
“World leaders used to come to the White House and walk away with billions in taxpayer-funded freebies,” said White House spokesman Kush Desai. “Now they’re bringing trade and investment deals—because they know President Trump means business, and that America under his leadership is the hottest country in the world.”
There were significant tensions ahead of Mr Martin’s White House visit last year as Mr Trump was preparing to announce a wide-ranging tariff programme, reports Breaking News.
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During that meeting, Mr Martin had to listen as Mr Trump criticised the European Union and the scale of US foreign direct investment in Ireland, much of which is concentrated in American pharmaceutical and technology companies.
Mr Trump said Ireland was “a beautiful country of five million people [which] has got the entire US pharmaceutical industry in its grips”.
When asked if he believed Ireland was taking advantage of the United States, he replied: “Of course they are,” reports Breaking News.
Mr Martin referred to Irish investment in the United States during that meeting but did not present specific new spending plans at the time.
There are concerns within Government about this year’s meeting given the ongoing war involving Iran, the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, and unrest in the US over the conduct of immigration enforcement agency ICE, reports Breaking News.
However, the planned investment announcements may help Mr Martin avoid a potentially difficult encounter with global attention focused on the meeting.
He is expected to adopt a non-confrontational approach similar to that taken by German chancellor Friedrich Merz during a recent meeting with Mr Trump, reports Breaking News.
This contrasts with Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez, who has openly criticised the US war on Iran, drawing anger from Mr Trump after Spain refused to allow US forces to use its air bases.
Opposition leaders including Labour’s Ivana Bacik and Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns have called on Mr Martin to challenge Mr Trump during the visit, reports Breaking News.
The reported investment announcements may also be welcomed by the Taoiseach after President Catherine Connolly criticised US strikes on Iran.
She condemned what she described as “violations of international law” in the Gulf, saying they were “shocking and numbing”, and added: “but we cannot afford inaction,” reports Breaking News.
Mr Martin has not responded to the remarks, though a Government spokesperson reiterated that responsibility for the State’s foreign policy lies with the Coalition government.
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