A total of 40 Ministers and other representatives of the State will visit more than 50 countries for a St Patrick’s Day programme that is set to focus on trade and investment.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin will travel to Washington DC where he is expected to meet US president Donald Trump. Mr Martin will also visit Philadelphia and he is among nine representatives that will travel to the United States.
These visits come against a backdrop of tensions between the Trump administration and the European Union over Greenland, though the US president last week dropped a threat of fresh trade tariffs on various European countries over the issue.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee will travel to Boston while others heading stateside include Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke (New York); Minister for Culture Patrick O’Donovan (Atlanta and Savannah); Minister for Housing James Browne (Chicago); Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon (San Francisco); and Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy (Los Angeles).
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Ministers of State Robert Troy and Niamh Smyth will go to Austin and Miami respectively.
Ms McEntee said: “St Patrick’s Day provides an unparalleled opportunity to showcase Ireland on the global stage and to engage at the highest levels with political, business, civil society, cultural and diaspora leaders.”
The theme this year will be to “highlight Ireland’s place in the world as a small, open trading economy”.
A Department of Foreign Affairs statement said: “In line with the Government’s Action Plan on Market Diversification, the 2026 St Patrick’s Day programme will place a stronger emphasis on trade and investment.
“Ministers will promote trade, investment, tourism, and international research and education partnerships in priority locations, including high-value, new and emerging markets.”
The United States marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the American Declaration of Independence and the department said the St Patrick’s Day programme “will provide a timely opportunity to highlight the significant contribution of Irish people to the founding of the United States, as well as to its political, economic and social development”.
Asked by reporters on Tuesday morning if he will accept an invitation to the White House if it comes, Mr Martin replied: “Yes. I think it’s very important that we continue, obviously, to underpin what is a very, very critical economic relationship between Ireland and the United States.”
He said more than 200,000 jobs in Ireland “are dependent on that relationship” and it “works both ways” with thousands of jobs created by Irish companies in the US.
Mr Martin said “there are huge economic links that put bread on the table of Irish people” and in addition the Irish diaspora in the United States is “enormous”.
Meanwhile, those Ministers travelling to European countries are to engage with counterparts on preparations for Ireland’s presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of the year.
Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris will travel to Paris and London; Minister for Children Norma Foley will visit Italy and the Holy See; Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill is going to Germany and Minister of State for European Affairs Thomas Byrne will travel to Poland, Ukraine and Moldova.
Others going further afield include Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers (Senegal and Nigeria); Minister for Climate Darragh O’Brien (Brazil); Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton (Chile and Argentina); Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary (Canada); Minister for Higher Education James Lawless (Australia); Attorney General Rossa Fanning (India); Minister of State Seán Canney (Japan and Korea); Minister of State Jerry Buttimer (China) and Minister of State Neale Richmond (South Africa, Mozambique and Jordan).
