Donald Trump in Ireland: Denis O’Brien, Michael Flatley among guests in attendance

Main pointsDonald 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‘He’s keeping our village alive’: Doonbeg residents prepare to host Donald Trump‘No tolerance’ for public disorder during Trump visit – Garda CommissionerDonald Trump expected to urge Ireland to buy liquefied natural gas from US during visitShane Lowry surges ahead as Doonbeg security teams swarm for Donald Trump’s arrivalConor Pope - 3 minutes agoHow many sitting US presidents have visited Ireland? Probably not as many as you think. While many people here like to talk up Ireland’s very special relationship with the US, only eight presidents have come here while they were resident in the White House. The first, of course, was John F Kennedy who came to the auld sod in June 1963. He spent four triumphant days travelling the country visiting Dublin, Wexford – from whence his family came – Cork, Galway and Limerick. He also became the first US president to address the joint houses of the Oireachtas.Richard Nixon came here on a State visit in 1970, stopping off in Dublin, Limerick and Timahoe. It was a decidedly less celebratory affair for many reasons. Then, in 1984 it was the turn of another Republican, Ronald Reagon. He came in June 1984 and as well as Dublin visited Galway and Ballyporeen where his roots were said to rest. He also addressed the Oireachtas. Bill Clinton - riding on the crest of the Peace Process wave came on three separate occasions. He was here for the first time in December 1995 and then again in September 1998 and for the third and final time as president in 2000.George W Bush was in Ireland twice while in the White House. He flew into Shannon and travelled to Dromoland Castle for an EU-US summit in June 2004 and then popped in in February 2006 to meet US troops in Shannon. Barack Obama’s visit in May 2011 had much more of a celebratory feel to it. He visited Dublin and Moneygall, from whence his great-great-great-grandfather came. Donald Trump was here once before - back in 2019. It was a flying visit then too and equally focussed on golf. He stayed for one night only in Doonbeg.And then there was Joe Biden. He came to Ireland in April 2023 and it had a homecoming feel akin to Kennedy’s visit 60 years earlier. Hevisited Dublin and Louth, addressed the Oireachtas Conor Pope - 5 minutes agoAs you might expect, there will be rolling road closures near Dublin Airport and Phoenix Park today as well as around Shannon Airport on Saturday afternoon and Sunday evening. The airports will remain open throughout the visit but those travelling have been advised to allow extra time for their journeys.Access to the environs of Doonbeg village, Trump’s hotel and the “wider west Clare environs will be restricted” for much of today and tomorrow.Conor Pope - 8 minutes agoIndependent senator Gerard Craughwell (Left) with Lauren McDonagh, former Miss Ireland and Aideen Howard, Miss Universe Ireland at the US ambassador's residence in Deerfield House ahead of the visit by US president Donald Trump. Photograph Jack Horgan Jones Conor Pope - 19 minutes agoPublic disorder will not be tolerated - GardaThere will be “no tolerance” for public disorder or attempts to impair US president Donald Trump’s movements during his visit to Ireland the Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly has said, with water cannons deployed if necessary.Speaking to the press yesterday he described the visit, which has been declared an “extraordinary event” by An Garda Síochána, as one of the biggest policing and security operations “in the history of the State”.Kelly said it “goes without saying” there would be protests during Trump’s visit, adding that “most people” are expected to do so in a peaceful way.“On the flipside of that, we have invested extensively over the last number of years, particularly since the Dublin riots, in equipment around public order,” he said.“We will have water cannon on standby for this weekend,” he said. “We hope we don’t have to utilise that, but if we need to, that’s what we have it for.” Two water cannons were bought by the force in the wake of the 2023 Dublin riots.Kelly said gardaí were doing “everything we can to minimise disruption to the public but during a visit such as this, it is inevitable. So I would ask for people’s patience this weekend, particularly in Dublin and Clare.” Conor Pope - 38 minutes agoNames 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 ForcesEddie Hobbs has a seat, as does Niamh Uí Bhriain 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.Jack Horgan-Jones reports from inside the US ambassadors residence where US president Donald Trump is expected later today. Conor Pope - 41 minutes agoI am writing this Live Story from just outside the Phoenix Park so I am 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 Air Force One around 90 minutes from the city. Conor Pope - 43 minutes agoWe 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 Éireann 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.”Conor Pope - 44 minutes ago‘No Welcome for Trump’ protest for city centreOne 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. And 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.Conor Pope - 59 minutes agoVillage People on in the parkOur 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. 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 Ceremony9:20 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 US 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, IrelandTHE PRESIDENT attends the 2026 Amgen Irish Open Doonbeg, The marquee at Deerfield House in the Phoenix Park as the US ambassador's residence gets ready for the visit of Donald Trump. This weekend promises to be like no other with the US president Donald Trump arriving 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 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 to 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 travel on Marine One to his golf course at Doonbeg, where he will stay overnight, before watching more golf on Sunday ahead of his return to Washington.And that should be that. Nice and calm. No drama. We will be with you all the way.