Main points

  • Donald Trump is set to meet President Catherine Connolly today at Áras an Uachtaráin.
  • He will then attend a meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin in Farmleigh House.
  • The US president will depart Dublin afterwards and spend the night in Doonbeg before watching the golf on Sunday.

Best reads

This weekend promises to be like no other with the US president Donald Trump arrivng for a two day visit to Ireland that – it is safe to say – is not universally popular.

One of the Air Force Ones – the new one, we are told – will be touching down in Dublin in couple of hours with Trump set to be be greeted by the Tánaiste Simon Harris, at what promises to be a grey, damp and blustery Dublin Airport.

He will then be whisked away by helicopter to the Phoenix Park before 9:30am where a busy (ish) morning awaits.

First he will meet the President Catherine Connolly, a fierce critic of Trump in the past and not just because he once mistakenly referred to her as a man.

After what might be a frosty enough courtesy call, he will make the short journey to Farmleigh House to meet the Taoiseach Micheál Martin after which he will pop in Deerfield House where the US ambassador Edward Walsh lives.

The marquee is already up there and crowds are gathering (but more of that anon).

From the Park he will return to the airport before being flown to Shannon and then on to his golf course at Doonbeg, where he will stay overnight, before watching more golf on Sunday ahead of is return to Washington.

And that should be that. Nice and calm. No drama.

We will be with you all the way.

The White House Press Pool is covering the visit from the American side and we have a breakdown of Trump’s time in Ireland (the capital letters are all theirs).

9:10 AM: THE PRESIDENT participates in an Arrival Ceremony

9:20 AM: THE PRESIDENT participates in a Courtesy Call with the President of Ireland Áras an Uachtaráin.

10:10 AM: THE PRESIDENT participates in a Bilateral Meeting with the Taoiseach of Ireland Farmleigh House

11:35 AM: THE PRESIDENT delivers Remarks to U Embassy Personnel and Business Leaders Deerfield Residence

(At this point the precise timings stop, presumably because no-one has a notion how long the aforementioned “remarks” will take.

THE PRESIDENT departs Dublin, Ireland en route Doonbeg, Ireland

THE PRESIDENT arrives Doonbeg, Ireland

THE PRESIDENT attends the 2026 Amgen Irish Open Doonbeg,

Village People on in the park

Our man in the Park (one of them) is Jack Horgan Jones and he was up before dawn’s early light to get the best of the seats at Deerfield House.

This is his first dispatch.

“You couldn’t quite call it a crowd yet at the US ambassador’s Phoenix Park residence, but there’s at least a growing gaggle of officials and journalists mustering before the reception for Donald Trump, who is expected here around 11am.

We also spotted Eddie Hobbs at one point. There’s a stiff breeze testing the large marquee set up in the garden for guests, where a rostrum has been set up for himself to speechify from later. And as we write this, they are testing the sound system… and yes, that is the opening bars of YMCA reaching our ears.”

Of course it is.

‘No Welcome for Trump’ protest for city centre

One of the advantages of confining Trump’s events in Dublin to the Phoenix Park is how easy -comparatively – it has been to shut it off to protestors. A nd it has been widely accepted and advertised that there will be protests today.

The entire park has been closed to the public since Thursday night and no-one is being allowed in either on foot or in cars.

That has seen the biggest of the Dublin protests scheduled for the city centre for lunchtime.

The Irish Neutrality League’s No Welcome for Trump protest will start at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin city at 1pm, with protesters set to march down O’Connell Street and towards the Dáil. Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Irish Neutrality League convener Sara O’Rourke said the group hopes thousands of people will turn out.

We have more from Jack Horgan Jones in the Phoenix Park.

“We have our first TD. And it’s Cork East’s James O’Connor (Fianna Fáil), who is pressing the flesh already as the first bus of proper guests seems to have arrived.

And he’s joined from Seanad Eireann by Gerard Craughwell. Well done James and Gerard.

Update on the music: they are now test running the introduction of US ambassador Edward S. Walsh, and we can reveal his entrance music will be “God Bless the USA” (Also known as “Proud to be an American”, the 1984 classic from Country & Western star Lee Greenwood.

Nobody had to Google that.”

I am writing this Live Story from just outside the Phoenix Park so are in a position to offer a fairly reliable weather update. The grim and grey start to the morning has been replaced by blue skies over Dublin with Airforce One around 90 minutes from the city.

Names of invited guests starts to emerge

We have a guestlist of sorts for the Deerfield House event.

It has been “gleaned from the names on the seats set up facing the rostrum,” reports Jack Horgan Jones.

Alongside those who you would expect,- like Micheál Martin and former Taoisigh Enda Kenny and Bertie Ahern – there will be Denis O’Brien and Dermot Desmond and Michael O’Leary and builder Sean Mulryan.

Other names on the backs of seats include Michael Flatley, former Tánaiste Simon Coveney, Irish ambassador to the US Geraldine Byrne Nason and former cabinet minister Mary Hanafin.

There are also seats for the Secretarys General of the Departments of Defence, of Transport, of Enterprise, Foreign Affairs and of Energy, and Lt General Rossa Mulcahy Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces

Eddie Hobbs has a seat, as does Niamh Ui Bhrian of Gript.ie and conservative activist Laoise de Brún.

There there are ambassadors from other countries and figures from companies including Meta, Amazon, Google, Ornua, Intercom, Glanbia, Stripe, Coca Cola, Amgen and Diageo.