DONALD TRUMP HAS announced his plans to visit Ireland later this month.
Rather than the buzz and excitement that might surround a future US president touching down on these shores, many are already announcing protests against the presumptive Republican nominee.
In the past Trump has called Mexican people that enter the United States rapists, proposed an all out ban on Muslims entering the country and advocated killing family members of terrorists – something considered to be a war crime.
He is set to visit Trump International Golf Links & Hotel in Doonbeg, Co Clare as part of the trip.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Sean O’Rourke programme, People Before Profit-Anti-Austerity Alliance TD Richard Boyd-Barrett confirmed that his party is already planning protests, and hit out at the “disgraceful rolling out of the red carpet” the last time Trump visited Ireland in 2014.
“He’s not a joke”, Boyd-Barrett said.
He’s a dangerous and vile racist, and warmonger, and sexist. And we need to show absolute opposition to everything he stands for. There should be no official reception for him.
This was a position supported by Fianna Fáil’s Daragh O’Brien, the party’s spokesperson on Foreign Affairs.
Speaking on the same programme he said: “I don’t think the government should be involved at all, frankly Sean. Some of his comments have been absolutely outrageous, and frankly have been racist.”
The Green Party is also set to oppose the visit, with its leader Eamon Ryan calling for a “peaceful, purposeful protest to show the world that Ireland rejects to divisive views espoused by Trump.”
Labour Senator Aodhan Ó Ríordain has said that he believes the Republican presidential candidate “shout not receive any official welcome, even of the most cursory nature”.
Citizen Trump holds no elected office in the United States. To extend diplomatic courtesies would be not only unnecessary but also inappropriate.
We believe that Donald Trump has advocated policies that, if he were elected, would make his country a serious threat to international peace and security. That concerns us all and we are entitled to make it known.
Despite concerns about the reception Trump is set to receive, the billionaire property tycoon isn’t without his supporters.
Fine Gael TD for Clare Pat Breen said that it was “a matter for the Taoiseach” as to whether or not he would meet with Trump, and that he had been a “big investor in west Clare”.
This is a view shared by Mayor of Clare, independent Councillor James Breen.
Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, he said: “Anyone who brings investment into Co Clare or into Ireland has to be welcomed. We are welcoming Donald Trump as a businessman, not as a politician.”
Donald Trump is coming to visit the property that is managed by his son in Doonbeg, and as such I see nothing wrong about that.
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