With that as my guide I offered a draft of the research brief some poor souls in the Department of External Affairs are probably working to in trying to help an Taoiseach and his minsters navigated some potentially stormy waters on their way through Washington and Irish America beyond.

What follows is a brief outline of the sort of speeches which may result: (not everything below can be covered in one speech, so each speech may major on one theme with only cursory reference to the others).

Ireland USA historic and cultural relationships

    
1. Thank you for the great welcome I have received here.

    
2. St. Patrick bought Christianity to Ireland and Ireland then did a lot to bring Christianity back to Europe during the post Roman Empire dark ages in Europe, and more recently, through our emigrants to the USA

    
3. We thus have a very long standing, close and deep relationship with the USA and between Irish America and both the great political traditions in the USA

    
4. We share with the USA the experience of colonialism and fighting for our freedom

    
5. Like the USA we have also given shelter to many recent immigrants and refugees - over 100, 000 from the Ukraine in the last three years alone, which, proportionately, is equivalent to 6 million in the USA.

    
6. We thus share with the USA a concern for that conflict to be resolved as quickly and fairly as possible, thus enabling those refugees to return to their homes in a peaceful Ukraine.

Economic relationships

    
1. In 2024, Ireland had a €70 billion trade surplus in goods but a €163 Billion trade deficit in services with the USA, with one closely related to the other.

    
2. This means we had an overall trade deficit of €93 billion with the USA, which means the relationship is very much in the USA's favour.

    
3. Ireland has enabled US pharma and tech companies to have a dominant foothold in the European markets and beyond

    
4. Because we are a low tax economy, the vast bulk of their profits go back to the USA

    
5. Ireland is also the sixth biggest investor in the USA, which is not bad for such a small country

    
6. Those economic ties are deepening all the time, and indeed it is often said that we are closer to Boston than Berlin

European Defence

    
1. Europe has enjoyed 80 years of peace and prosperity, in large part because of the nuclear umbrella extended by the USA to deter nuclear attack by the Soviet Union and more recently Russia

    
2. This may have led to some complacency, and we understand the concerns of your administration that Europe share more of this burden.

    
3. Even though we are and will remain a non-nuclear power, we understand the concerns of our European neighbours that the time has come for Europe to develop a larger nuclear deterrent capability of its own, as recently suggested by President Macron and Prime Minister Tusk

    
4. Ireland is, however, fully prepared to provide peace-keeping troops to police the Ukraine Russia border to ensure that any peace deal agreed is a lasting one. We have a long tradition supporting both military and civilian UN peace keeping missions, and currently have military missions in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Golan Heights, Syria, Israel, Jordan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, Mali, and the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as civilian missions in Ukraine, Sahel Niger, Somalia, Kosovo, Georgia, Libya, Mali, and the Palestinian Territories.

    
5. But Ireland as a relatively small country also has concerns closer to home:
   
   
       
   1. To maintain the peace in Northern Ireland which was established by the Good Friday Agreement which the USA did so much to help bring about
   
       
   2. To continually improve the relationships, north and south, on the island of Ireland
   
       
   3. To continually improve our historically antagonistic relationship with Great Britain
   
       
   4. To guard and protect the northwest approaches to the European continent on our own behalf, and on behalf of our friends and neighbours in Europe.
   
       
   5. To protect and defend the undersea North Atlantic cables which are so important to all of our prosperity both in the USA and Europe
   
       
   6. To this end we will be increasing our defence expenditure by 40% between 2022 and 2028, to improve our radar, sonar, air, sea, subsea, and anti-missile defence capabilities.
   
       
   7. We would particularly welcome cooperation and support from US tech and pharmaceutical companies to improve our cyber and bio security capabilities.
   
       
   8. We are fully aware that, depending on the outcome of the Russia Ukraine invasion, further increases may be required to secure the northwest European frontier and secure our communication lines with the USA.
   
   

We are fully aware that we live in an ever more connected world. War, commerce, communications, climate change, energy infrastructures and cultural exchanges do not restrict themselves to existing international boundaries. We have so much more in common than what few things divide us.

Ireland, as a small country on the edge of Europe and close to the USA, is prepared to do our part in making the world a more prosperous and secure place for all, and I look forward to working with your (President Trump's) administration to ensure that, together, we can make America and Europe a great and peaceful place to live for all.