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Trump Participates in the Friends of Ireland Luncheon, Mar. 17, 2026

March 17, 2026 · The White House · 0:27:10

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

President Donald Trump spoke at the Friends of Ireland luncheon at the Capitol on March 17, 2026, introduced by Speaker Mike Johnson as a man who had spent “a lifetime working with the Irish first to build skyscrapers and golf courses and now trade deals and diplomatic ties.” The President thanked Johnson — “when you think of everything that we’ve passed with a sometimes majority of one” — and wished the room a happy St. Patrick’s Day.

He praised Taoiseach Micheál Martin as “a man that I’ve gotten to know and you mean business and he can tell a story like nobody can tell a story,” and turned to his own Ireland connection: the Irish Open would be held at a Trump Organization property in Ireland, which he called “one of the greatest golf courses in the world,” while noting, as he put it, “I own it, but I don’t choose to” run it — his son Eric runs it and reports they are “doing great,” as the President recounted it. He also returned to Iran, saying the United States cannot again face “lunatics controlling nuclear weaponry,” as he stated it.

Why it matters

The Friends of Ireland luncheon is the congressional half of the St. Patrick’s Day tradition — the President, the Speaker, and the Taoiseach in one room — and this year’s edition doubled as a show of the President’s working relationship with a one-vote House majority. It is recorded on the Foreign Policy & Defense hub.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Participates in the Friends of Ireland Luncheon,” The White House, March 17, 2026 (official upload, embedded above). All characterizations as stated by the President and the Speaker at the luncheon.