US President Donald Trump has arrived at Dublin Airport ahead of a two-day visit to Ireland.
His trip will include meetings with Irish President Catherine Connolly and Taoiseach Micheál Martin, and has been described as one of the biggest security operations ever implemented by the Irish police service.
Trump will take part in engagements in the Irish capital Dublin as well as at his golf resort in Doonbeg, Co Clare, which is hosting the Irish Open.
Irish premier Micheál Martin said he looks forward to welcoming Mr Trump to Ireland and ‘discussing the many issues of mutual interest and reaffirming the strong economic, cultural and people-to-people ties between Ireland and the United States’.
‘His visit comes during a remarkable sporting summer for Ireland, and the United States and this weekend’s Irish Open at Trump International Doonbeg will be a fitting conclusion to an outstanding season of sport, and I hope we will see an Irish winner lifting the trophy on Sunday,’ he added.
Trump is also expected to meet President Catherine Connolly, a long-standing critic of the US president, at her official residence Áras an Uachtaráin in Dublin’s Phoenix Park, before a nearby engagement with Mr Martin, the Taoiseach at the Farmleigh Estate.
He will also attend a series of events at Deerfield, the residence of the US Ambassador to Ireland.
A number of protests against Mr Trump’s visit have been planned.
Air Force One comes in to land at Dublin Airport for the start of US President Donald Trump’s trip to Ireland
A police motorcade is seen at Dublin Airport as the country prepares to welcome the US President for a two-day visit
Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said peaceful protest would be facilitated as much as possible, but there will be ‘no tolerance’ for public disorder or attempts to impact ‘critical movements’ of the US president.
‘We have robust policing plans in place and will arrest and prosecute those committing offences’, he said, adding that water cannon will be ‘on standby’ but said he hoped they would not be needed.
The visit is being hotly opposed by some Dubliners, and a massive security operation is underway.
Police put up a cordon around Dublin’s Phoenix Park, where he’ll meet Martin, the taoiseach, at the government’s Farmleigh state guesthouse.
But residents expressed annoyance over the disruption.
‘He’s causing mayhem in this city because he wants to go down to Doonbeg and play golf,’ said taxi driver Christopher Fox, emphatically not a fan of Trump. ‘The world’s in turmoil and this fella’s down playing golf.’
University student Mina Petrovski said Trump’s ‘attitudes towards women, towards immigrants, towards minority communities in general are abhorrent.’ She said it’s ‘shameful that the Irish government is welcoming him with open arms.’
The trip comes after Martin invited Trump to visit Ireland when they met at the White House on St. Patrick’s Day this year.
Ireland’s political leaders will see the visit as a chance to maintain warm trans-Atlantic relations despite differences over trade and foreign policy, issues the White House said Trump wants to discuss.
This is a breaking news story and is being updated.
