Donald Trump is scheduled to arrive in Ireland on Saturday, but many Irish people are not happy about it.
A recent poll by the Sunday Independent and Ireland Thinks found that 69% of Americans disapproved of the US president’s visit.
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Sean Radcliffe, an economics student at Trinity College Dublin, told Al Jazeera: “Thousands of people will be marching on Saturday to reject the normalization of a man who promoted genocide.”
Radcliffe, leader of the student group’s Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign, added that Michael Martin “must say clearly, categorically and publicly that the United States is inciting genocide.”
Sean Corcoran, an environmental artist based on Waterford’s Copper Coast, spent five hours with three others carving “No Kings”, a tribute to the anti-Trump protests of the same name in the US, along with “Gaza, Iran, Ice”.
“As an Irish artist and citizen, I believe it is important to use my voice to share my views on the Trump administration,” he told Al Jazeera. “Despite the diplomatic and security welcome Trump receives upon landing in Ireland, the majority of Irish people do not welcome his visit to Ireland.”
Trump is scheduled to meet with several figures in Ireland’s leadership, including Martin and anti-war president Catherine Connolly, who has previously said the US is “definitely not a reliable” country for Ireland, along with France and the UK.
Protests are planned across Ireland, including at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin. Many of them are about President Trump’s role in supporting Israel’s actions in Palestine.
Ireland is one of the Western countries’ most vocal critics of Israel and is the first European Union country to ban imports from illegal Israeli settlements.
About 4,000 security personnel, including about 1,000 U.S. secret agents and “anti-drone weapons,” will be drafted to protect U.S. leaders from protests and other risks during their visit.
He is expected to visit the Irish Open golf tournament at Doonbeg, where Trump owns a resort, after a visit with Ireland’s political elite and the US ambassador to Ireland led to the temporary closure of Phoenix Park, one of Europe’s largest parks.
Although Connolly has a largely ceremonial role, he said he is “not afraid to go against the consensus.” She secured a landslide victory in October 2025.
Mr Connolly said he would meet with the US president in an official capacity during the campaign, but added: “I don’t think[genocide]will be discussed. I don’t think[Gaza]will be on the table.”
“People are expecting a president who is a bit more activist and maybe more vocal,” Johann Dornschneider Elkink, a professor of computational political science at University College Dublin, told Al Jazeera. “The high level of consensus among the Irish people means that the president can also move forward with policy with a little more confidence.”
Still, the limitations of Mr. Connolly’s role and Taoists’ economic obligations are expected to overshadow the Palestinian issue in high-level talks.
“Ireland is very united in spirit.”
“I think[the protests]show that Ireland is very much aligned spiritually and policy-wise with the Palestinian people. They are very sympathetic to Palestine,” Stephanie Dornschneider Elkink, associate professor of political science at University College Dublin, told Al Jazeera.
“But there is also limited room for criticism. Ireland is dependent on the United States and our economic relationship is at stake.”
Johan added that the visit is more of an opportunity for Irish people who want to make their position known both towards Palestine and the Trump administration.
“Mr Trump is one of many presidents and there is an understanding that there will be another. There is a much longer history of relations between Ireland and the US and no one wants to see that eroded.”
Sinn Féin opposition leader Mary Lou McDonald told reporters this week that she hoped Mr Connolly would raise issues such as “promoting the ongoing genocide in Gaza”, adding that the party planned to take part in Saturday’s protests.
The party’s foreign affairs, trade and defense spokesperson, Donnchad O’ Laoghaire TD, said on his Instagram account that he planned to take part in the Garden of Remembrance protest and called on others to join them “against genocide and war”.
The demonstration is being organized by the Irish Neutrality League in conjunction with the Irish Anti-War Movement and social justice movement Ton na Creh, and has received support from Sinn Féin as well as the Social Democrats, Labor, People Before Solidarity and the Green Party.
Ireland’s student body is the most vocal pro-Palestinian organization in the country, and Trinity College Dublin has become the first university in the world to formally sever ties with Israel.
Mr Radcliffe said there was “no significant” generational rift over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Ireland.
“Some of the best (pro-Palestinian) activists I know in Ireland are pensioners,” he said.
