Did Trump just endorse a United Ireland?

PDX HIBERNIAN INDEPENDENT 19 March 2026                                  

More than an email. Less than a newspaper. Weekly newsletter of the Portland Hibernian Society. Delivered every Thursday.

Tuesday, 17 March, 2026. Oregon Potato Famine Memorial. Cross of The Scriptures.  Mt. Calvary Cemetery. Photo by Danny Hennessy.

PORTLAND HIBERNIAN SOCIETY - (L to R) Jack Lynch, John Bradach Sr., Tom Markgraf, Colleen Schultz, Lucia, Daniel Curran, Sheila Cullen, Mike Heffernan, Mike Holmes (flag bearer), Bill Gallagher (chieftain), Brian Kelly, Katie Hennessy, Tim Hennessy (treasurer), Pete Craven, Mike Curran, Rob Sullivan (bagpiper), Gerard McAleese (Kells), Brian Walsh, Brian Doherty, Mary Margaret Craford, Jim Connolly.

Annual Irish visit to White House OBE (Overcome by Events)

“I spent my whole day with the Irish. I should have been spending it with the Iranians.” President Trump

Coverage of this annual mid-March meet and greet in the Oval Office was limited in the media due to bigger news elsewhere this year. So, here's some of what went on. 

Trump began a forty-minute “meeting” with Ireland’s Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheal Martin in the Oval Office (designer: Architect James Hoban of Ireland) by talking for 20 minutes straight about.....the stuff Trump talks about. It was only when Trump started to criticize the Prime Minister of Great Britain that Martin came out of his corner. “Keir Starmer has done a lot to reset the British-Irish relationship, I just want to put that on the record. But I do believe he’s a very . . . earnest, sound person that you have a capacity to get on with. You’ve got on with him before and you’ve got on with other European leaders as well,” said Martin to Trump. The BBC, which noted that Martin was a boxer before entering Irish politics, gave him the decision, “In the end, Martin came out intact having defended the man who had helped restore Anglo-Irish relations, without triggering a backlash from his US host.It was a bout he did not win but also did not lose.” Rope-A-Dope?

Did Trump endorse a United Ireland?  

It sure sounded like it. “Welcoming Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly, he joked he would get into trouble but said there needed to be a "merger" in Ireland, suggesting a United Ireland would be beneficial to all.” according to RTE. WTF!?!? The reunification of their nation is no joke to Irish nationalists. But NI’s Protestant co-leader said afterwards that Trump was obviously kidding. “Asked if Trump's comments represented his support for Irish reunification, Little-Pengelly said: "If you are trying to take that from a bit of a joke by the president, that is really grasping at straws. It was "clearly a joke," she insisted wrote the BBC. Headlines: Daily Star - “Bad luck of the Irish: Martin looks on as Trump waffles.”The Daily Beast - “Trump goes on wild rant as Irish PM struggles not to laugh.” You can watch the entire forty minutes here. 

St. Patrick's Day, Irish Citizenship and Immigration

Celine Kennelly of the Irish Immigration Pastoral Center sang at the Irish Citizenship Ceremony in the Consulate of Ireland in San Francisco..

An unexpected benefit of becoming a Citizen of Ireland for those who live on the west coast of America is a Citizenship Ceremony at the Consulate of Ireland in San Francisco. The second such gathering ever – and the only such in the U.S. - occurred on the Sunday before Saint Patrick's Day. Highlight: The Congressman who made life in America possible for 45,000 citizens of Ireland and Northern Ireland 30 years ago shared the benefits of immigration with 55 American citizens who have now become Irish citizens too.(Hibernians Tim and Katie Hennessy, Joan Gallagher and Bill Gallagher among them.)  Bruce Morrison on the importance of immigrants.

Irish Screen: Jessie Buckley scores a first for Ireland as she runs the table* 

For the first time ever, an Irishwoman has won the movie world’s highest acting honor. For her performance as Shakespeare’s wife in Hamnet, Jessie Buckley took home the Best Actress Oscar. She's also the first daughter of Eire to win ALL the major acting awards in one year. That Oscar capped off her wins at the Irish and British Oscars (BAFTA and IFTA), the Golden Globe, Critics Choice, and SAG-AFTRA Actor Award for Leading Actress. Others who have “run the table”: Rene Zellweger for Judy (Jessie Buckley co-starred), Frances McDormand for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Minn., Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine, and Jodie Foster for Silence of the Lambs. (*Running the table is a pool hall term for sinking every shot you take.)

Irish Stage PDX: Before it was a movie it was a Tony-nominated play

The cast and crew at Corrib Theater are into the final weeks of rehearsal for the April 2 opening of Outside Mullingar. When it ran on Broadway, John Patrick Shanley’s play was nominated for a Tony. "Rosemary Muldoon and Anthony Reilly are two middle-aged misfits who have harbored a land dispute for decades. With nothing much to do in their small, rural town, the two long for intimacy and fulfillment as they maintain their family farm.” Sound familiar? Outside Mullingar was made into the movie Wild Mountain Thyme starring Christopher Walken, Emily Blunt, Jamie Dornan and Jon Hamm. Click for tix.

Hibernianism has its day in Heppner, Oregon

Saturday, March 14 - The O'Planky Race at the Wee bit o' Ireland Celebration in Heppner. There was also a Welly Toss, Bed Race and Road Bowling. Click here to see what this year's event included. 

In only two nations is Saint Patrick's Day a National Holiday

Ireland is one, of course, but the other nation? From The NY Times. Only two places in the world observe the feast of the patron saint as a national holiday: the Emerald Isle itself and the tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat. Irish settlers first began arriving in Montserrat in the 1600s, including Irish Catholics who came as indentured servants. Through the centuries, Irish and African cultures mixed, which led to a St. Patrick’s Day tradition that became a national holiday in 1985. People on Tuesday tossed what they called leprechaun dust at each other while drinking and dancing to dancehall music. Ms. Browne Turay, 33, came from London  “It’s one of the biggest St. Patrick’s Day celebrations outside of Ireland and New York, but what is so fascinating about it is it has nothing to do with St. Patrick at all.” 

Politics on Saint Patrick's Day

Without comment, here are two memes sent out on social media for March 17. Top - from the Republican Party. Bottom - from the Governor of California.

363 days until Saint Patrick's Day 2027