Kenny proposed November meeting with Trump on phone call

Taoiseach Enda Kenny proposed a meeting in the coming weeks with US president-elect Donald Trump during the course of their phone call following his election victory.

Mr Kenny is due to travel to New York and San Francisco for a trade mission at the end of the month.

The Taoiseach is understood to have told Mr Trump of his plans to be in New York during their 10-minute phone call last week and suggested the possibility of a face-to-face meeting.

Mr Trump was said to have been open to the proposal, depending on his schedule, and the matter was left with their respective staff to arrange.

There was no Irish official listening in the call to take notes because it was hastily arranged the day after Mr Trump's election and took place late at night in Ireland.

Mr Kenny will be in New York from December 1st to 3rd. The US president-elect lives in Trump Tower in Manhattan, a short walk from the hotel where the Taoiseach is scheduled to stay during his visit.

A spokesman for the Taoiseach told reporters earlier this week there were “no plans at present” to meet and no official request had been made.

The spokesman said on Friday that position had not changed.

Mr Kenny was one of only nine world leaders to speak to Mr Trump within 24 hours of his election and the only leader of an European Union member state to speak with the Republican the day after his resounding victory.

Mr Trump met his first foreign leader, Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, at Trump Tower on Thursday, in a meeting attended by the president-elect's daughter, Ivanka.

The Taoiseach received the first invite to the White House from Mr Trump, after the president-elect asked him during their call to travel to the White House for St Patrick's Day, continuing a tradition that dates back to 1952.

Trump a ‘fascist’

Mr Kenny has been strongly criticised at home for his reaction to the election of Mr Trump.

In a statement the Taoiseach congratulated him on behalf of the people of Ireland, despite previously labelling some of his comments racist and dangerous.

A video of Labour Senator Aodhán Ó Riordáin criticising Mr Kenny's post-election comments have gone viral after being posted on a number of US based websites and Facebook pages.

In the speech in the Seanad on November 10th, the former equality minister described Mr Trump as a fascist and said he was “embarrassed” by the Irish Government’s reaction to the election result.

“I can’t believe the reaction from An Taoiseach and from the Government. And I don’t use the word fascist lightly, but what else would you call somebody who threatens to imprison his political opponents?

“The best we come out with is a phone call to say ‘Is it still okay to bring the shamrock?’,” he said, referring to the call confirming that the annual St Patrick’s Day ceremony in the White House would continue.

The video had been viewed by 2.9 million people on the Senator’s own Facebook page by Friday afternoon and it has been widely promoted by a Facebook page Occupy Democrats. It has also been picked up by viral network Now This where the video has been seen nearly 6 million times on its Facebook page.