Next weekend, President Catherine Connolly will face one of the biggest tests of her presidency so far when US president Donald Trump is expected to pay a courtesy call on her in Áras an Uachtaráin.

Many of Connolly’s supporters from her election campaign last year will expect her to confront Trump, not least over US support for Israel in its assaults on Gaza, and the continuing expansion of settlements in the West Bank, to speak for the values she campaigned on last year.

But Connolly knows – and the Government has issued occasional reminders – that she is not responsible for foreign policy or relations with other states. That’s their job. Trying to step into that role would not just cause problems for the Government, it would be constitutionally improper.

“I have no doubt that she will forcefully criticise [Trump] and take him to task over what’s being done to the Palestinians, on his warmongering across the globe, on his obnoxious behaviour to women, to people of colour, to immigrants,” said People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett.

“Not only should she do that, but I’d be very confident that she will.”

Boyd Barrett’s comments were echoed by others who supported Connolly in her election campaign last year.

A spokeswoman for the Social Democrats was more cautious, but there is clearly an expectation in the party that Connolly will raise issues with the US president.

“Catherine Connolly is a strong advocate for peace and international law, as are the Irish people,” the spokeswoman said. “So that would likely arise in any meeting.”

The Greens said they were confident that Connolly would “find a way” to make her points to Trump.

“President Connolly represents the entire nation and, as part of that role, has to engage with the elected heads of state of other countries, even if their views are abhorrent,” said party leader Roderic O’Gorman.

“The Green Party is confident that the President will find a way to ensure that Irish values on Gaza, respect for women and minorities, and climate, are articulated during the Trump visit.”

Labour leader Ivana Bacik said she had “no doubt that she would express her views in robust terms, and indeed she spoke very robustly against the normalisation of war back in March and I think she’ll express those views and I would hope she does in a private visit”.

But Sinn Féin was slightly more cautious, seeking to place the onus on the Government to tackle Trump.

“The president has a specific role as head of state in representing Ireland,” a spokesman said.

“There is a responsibility on the Taoiseach and Tánaiste to be clear on how they will approach the visit of President Trump, and how they will raise the concerns of the Irish people on Gaza, the right to Palestinian self-determination and the illegal war in Iran.”

Large protests are expected in Dublin, while there are also plans for a Doonbeg protest, though that is likely to be kept very far away from Trump. The “No Welcome for Trump” demonstration will gather at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin city centre from 1pm on the day of his arrival: Saturday, September 12th.

But Connolly is not a protester with a placard; she is the head of state, meeting the head of state of another friendly nation. And not just any friendly nation: one with which Ireland’s relationship is crucial – indispensable, actually – for its economic fortunes.

Donald Trump to meet Catherine Connolly and Micheál Martin in Phoenix Park

Ireland’s public finances – from which vast sums are allocated to public services, welfare spending and other causes likely close to the heart of next Saturday’s demonstrators – are hugely, disproportionately reliant on taxes paid by US multinationals and their employees.

Being a bit rude to Donald Trump might very well have zero effect on all that. The view across much of Government, though, is: why would you take the risk?

It would be hard, though, for Connolly bite her lip and play the diplomat. As a TD she repeatedly condemned Trump in the Dáil.

In 2017 she differed from other left-wing TDs who urged the taoiseach not to go to the US for St Patrick’s Day.

“I have no difficulty with the taoiseach going to the US,” she said.

“It is a long tradition. However, he should go with a very strong message from this Dáil that we abhor President Trump’s policies and will not stand by them. … I shudder at what President Trump represents but I shudder even more at what is behind him.”

Later that year, she declared that “international law has gone out the window with the election of President Trump”.

By last year her attitude to Trump had hardened, her Dáil contributions suggest.

In February she said: “I have difficulty calling him ‘President Trump’ given he is somebody who has clearly said he is going to invade and take over Gaza …

“It is extraordinary that the language that is used here includes words like ‘disheartening’ in regard to declaring Unrwa an illegal organisation and has no mention of Trump whatsoever when he is about to carry out a second Nakba,” she said, referring to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency that provides aid to Palestinians and the 1948 Nakba that displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.

Melania Trump to skip US president’s Ireland visit

Later that month, she said: “If we have learned anything it is that there are countries we certainly cannot trust. America is one of those and England and France are others. What is behind their motivation is simply an arms industry, more war, ongoing war, normalising war and making huge profits. That needs to be called out over and over.

She continued: “In the speech today Trump was called our friend. Trump, who has trampled on international law, supporting Israel trampling on international law and reducing Gaza to nothing. That is our friend and we do not seem to see any contradiction in calling out Russia – rightly so – but not calling out America or any of the other major powers. I have a huge problem with that.”

In March 2025 she called for Irish leaders to speak out. “If we are going to be believed and if we are going to act as an independent sovereign State, a neutral republic, we must use our voice to speak to power and the abuse of power by President Trump, Netanyahu and Russia,” she said.

“However, to have any credibility in the world we must be consistent. We must take courage in our hand, use our voice for peace and form alliances with other countries that will not go along with this consensus.”

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said on Thursday that he had no concerns “at all” about what might come up when Trump meets Connolly, adding that it was “appropriate and proper” that Connolly would meet Trump during his visit. Behind the scenes, however, officials are working feverishly to manage the encounter and minimise the risk.

The US embassy and the Department of Foreign Affairs will “walk every single footstep before the meeting – you know, ‘the President goes here, and then there,’” says one official.

“They will try to choreograph it as tightly as possible.”

Careful diplomatic choreography, however, has its limits.

While no details of the nature of the meeting between the two presidents have been released yet, there are a number of possibilities, officials say.

These range from a bilateral meeting (usually across the diningroom table) with several officials from either side, to a smaller meeting, perhaps in the drawingroom, over tea and coffee, to a private chat in the President’s study.

The last is considered unlikely.

But if Connolly does want to confront Trump, she will have enough opportunity to do so. How the famously mercurial Trump would respond is anyone’s guess.