DUBLIN — Donald Trump lands in Ireland under tight security Saturday for two days of diplomacy and golf, on a trip that again blurs the lines between his presidency and personal business interests.
At least 4,000 police and other personnel, including snipers, have been mobilized for the visit, in what has been dubbed one of the biggest security operations ever mounted in Ireland.
Trump spoke briefly to reporters on the tarmac ahead of his flight to Dublin, saying “we’re having a lot of meetings with European leaders and others, so it’ll be very interesting time.” Thousands of anti-Trump protesters are planning to rally in Dublin, where the US leader will hold separate meetings with Ireland’s taoiseach (prime minister) Micheál Martin and President Catherine Connolly.
Trump is then due to fly to his luxury resort in Doonbeg, on Ireland’s west coast, where some of the world’s top golfers are competing in the Irish Open tournament.
The golf-mad president — whose relaxed relationship with the game’s rules was documented by sports journalist Rick Reilly in the 2019 book “Commander in Cheat” — may even award the trophy on Sunday.
“He’s really just visiting the golf resort he owns and dropping into Dublin for a courtesy visit,” Daniel Geary, a US history professor at Trinity College Dublin, told AFP.
The 80-year-old billionaire has promoted his family’s golf business unabashedly since returning to the White House for his second stint as president in January 2025.
Last summer, he welcomed then-UK prime minister Keir Starmer and European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen to his plush resort at Turnberry on the west coast of Scotland.
Trump then inaugurated another golf course bearing his name in the town of Balmedie, near Aberdeen on the northeast Scottish coast. AFP
