On Tuesday, Donald Trump met Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin for the annual St. Patrick’s Day meeting. During the meeting, Trump addressed Irish President Catherine Connolly’s views on war, while mistaking her gender, as reported by Mediaite.
Every year, the “taoiseach” or Irish Prime Minister comes to meet the President and presents them with a bowl of shamrocks. According to the BBC, this tradition dates back to the 1950s.
Q: The Irish president has said your war against Iran is illegal and an attack on international law
TRUMP: Who said that?
Q: The Irish president
TRUMP: Look, he’s lucky I exist. That’s all I can say. pic.twitter.com/sb47hYgceN
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 17, 2026
But this year’s meeting was dominated by talks about the ongoing war with Iran. In the Q&A session with the reporters, one commented, “The Irish president has said that your war against Iran is illegal, it’s an attack on international law.”
To this, Trump replied, “Who said that?” The reporter then said, “The Irish president.”
After that, as reported by Mediaite, Trump stated, “Look, he’s lucky I exist. That’s all I can say, because if you’re gonna allow countries that are sick and demented – and they are demented – to have nuclear weapons– everybody in the whole world should be very thankful, and I’m disappointed in NATO. Very disappointed.”
The Irish Prime Minister sat in awkward silence as Trump repeatedly misidentified Connolly’s gender.
FYI we have a female president pic.twitter.com/kGzJINVL25
— Caution Banks (@Caution_Banks_) March 17, 2026
He further added, “I’m disappointed in a couple of other countries too, but they should be very thankful that this group of people feels the way we do.”
Irish President Catherine Connolly had previously condemned the strikes and reaffirmed Ireland’s stance on peace, as mentioned by The Journal. She called the war “deliberate assaults on international law.”
She also said, “The violations of international law we are witnessing are shocking and numbing, but we cannot afford inaction. What we have witnessed in recent days in the Middle East, and beyond, are not political disputes.”
Trump also touched upon the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer’s, response to the war. He claimed that Starmer had made a “big mistake” for not offering sufficient support to the US, as reported by The Independent.
Previously, Trump asked for assistance from all the allied nations to help open the Strait of Hormuz.
When asked about Starmer, the Independent reported that Trump said, “Well, he hasn’t been supportive, and I think it’s a big mistake.”
🚨 WATCH: The Irish PM defends Keir Starmer as Donald Trump repeats he is “not Winston Churchill”
“Starmer has done a lot to reset the Irish-British relationship. I do believe he is a very earnest person who you have a capacity to get on with” pic.twitter.com/f2pg2RvwQu
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) March 17, 2026
“You know, they make a lot of money on trade with the United States. I went out of my way. As you know, they couldn’t make a deal with Biden, because they had no real administration to make a deal…So, yeah, I’m disappointed with Keir. I like him, I think he’s a nice man, but I’m disappointed.”
However, Martin had defended Starmer in front of Trump, as claimed by Politico.
He credited his British counterpart for mending Anglo-Irish ties and reminded Trump of his past positive outlook on Starmer.
Martin said, “Keir Starmer has done a lot to reset the Irish-British relationship. I just want to put that on the record…I do believe that he’s a very earnest, sound person that you have a capacity to get along with. You’ve got along with him before.”
