Another humiliation awaits Ireland’s premier Micheál Martin in the coming days at the hands of the Trump administration.

At last year’s St Patrick’s Day event in the White House, an annual jamboree of Irish groveling and American paddywhackery, Donald Trump charged the Taoiseach and his “beautiful island” with stealing the US pharmaceutical industry while openly fretting about the loss of the “Irish vote” if he “drained” the country in retaliation. Right on cue, Martin curled up in Trump’s lap, obediently pointing out that his government had, in fact, fought the EU’s tax-avoidance case against Apple in the European Court of Justice.

The meeting took place less than two months into Trump’s second, more radical administration, when he was already revealing a desire to dismantle the international order on which the hyper-globalized Irish economy relies for its booming budget surpluses and eye-watering corporate tax receipts. In 2024, 46 percent of Irish corporate tax was paid by three American multinationals: Apple, Microsoft, and Eli Lilly.