Taoiseach recommended to meet Donald Trump on St Patrick’s Day

The Taoiseach should go to the White House on St Patrick's Day and cultivate deeper bilateral ties with the United States, a former foreign policy adviser to Bill Clinton has said.

James Rubin, who was chief spokesperson at the US state department from 1997-2000, told The Irish Times that Ireland was better placed than most countries to deal with the unpredictability of Donald Trump's administration.

"I think countries like Ireland, the UK, like Israel, countries that have special ties with the United States, are going to have to figure out how to exploit those ties and those relationships in order to give the kind of confidence and reassurance that would normally come naturally in an administration," he said.

Mr Rubin, who is addressing the annual dinner of Chartered Accountants Ireland in Dublin on Thursday, said that symbolic gestures such as boycotting the shamrock ceremony were unlikely to be useful.

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“The administration is run seemingly by an insult-driven diplomacy, and insult diplomacy is worse if both sides are playing it,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any reason to back away from the basic ties.

"But, quite properly in the case of Ireland, I think it's appropriate for ties to be sought and strengthened, not just with the White House but with Congress, the individual political leaders in the communities, the business communities and all the different people and entities that one can. Because bilateral diplomacy is back."

Risks to foreign policy

According to Mr Rubin, Mr Trump’s first days in office has shown that he will govern as he had campaigned, with all the risks to US foreign policy that implied. He identified the new president’s casual relationship with the truth as his most dangerous quality, because it could lead adversaries to miscalculate his intentions.

“The most dangerous outcome is when the adversary doesn’t believe you’ll defend your allies and thus takes risky steps and aggressive steps,” he said. “But you end up defending your allies and then you have the potential for conflict between two nuclear powers. That is what the scary scenario is all about.”

On Wednesday, prime minister Theresa May again defended the decision to invite Mr Trump for a state visit to Britain, despite the fact that nearly two million people have signed a petition against it. Answering questions in parliament, Ms May issued her strongest condemnation yet of the president's ban on refugees and immigrants from seven majority-Muslim countries.

“On the policy that President Trump has introduced, this government is clear that that policy is wrong,” she said. “We wouldn’t do it. In six years as home secretary, I never introduced such a policy. We believe it is divisive and wrong.

“The question is how you respond. The job of government is not to chase the headlines. The job of government is not to take to the streets in protest. The job of government is to protect the interests of British citizens. And that’s exactly what we did.”