will come before the Court of Appeal this week<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\nSpeaking to reporters in New York, Simon Harris said Trump is \u201cperfectly entitled\u201d to invite whoever he wants into his home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut let me be very clear. Conor McGregor is not here in the United States representing Ireland or the people of Ireland. He\u2019s here in a personal capacity,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe doesn\u2019t speak for Ireland. He doesn\u2019t speak for the people of Ireland. He has no mandate to do such, and my views on him are very clear, well established, previously articulated, long standing and on the public record.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harris also said he admires Nikita Hand\u2019s \u201cbravery and courage\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a post on X in the early hours of this morning, McGregor said he was due to land in Washington \u201cfor the most important meeting of my countries (sic) future\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Addressing reporters in the White House briefing room, McGregor said he was in the White House \u201cto raise the issues the people of Ireland face\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019ll be music to the people of Ireland\u2019s ears because never on the main stage has the issues the people of Ireland face been spoke,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur government has long since abandoned the voices of the people of Ireland, and it\u2019s high time that America is made aware of what is going on in Ireland. What is going on in Ireland is a travesty. Our government is the government of zero action with zero accountability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur money is being spent on overseas issues that has nothing to do with the Irish people. The illegal immigration racket is running ravage on the country. There are rural towns in Ireland that have been overrun in one swoop, that have become a minority in one swoop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIssues need to be addressed, and the 40 million Irish Americans need to hear this, because if not, there will be no place to come home and visit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked what should happen to undocumented Irish people living in the US, McGregor said Ireland considers America \u201cour big sibling\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important for Ireland to be a peaceful, prosperous country for the 40 million Irish Americans, to have a place to visit, to come back to their home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe wish for our relationship with the United States to continue, and we wish to be taken care of by the big bro. The United States should look after its little bro.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin also criticised McGregor\u2019s comments in the White House. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“St. Patrick\u2019s Day around the world is a day rooted in community, humanity, friendship and fellowship. Conor McGregor\u2019s remarks are wrong, and do not reflect the spirit of St. Patrick\u2019s Day, or the views of the people of Ireland.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Donald Trump praised McGregor<\/a> during his Oval Office meeting with Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin last week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cI do happen to like your fighter,\u201d Trump said in reference to McGregor. \u201cHe\u2019s got the best tattoos I\u2019ve ever seen. Conor\u2019s great, right?\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked by The Journal<\/em> whether Martin should have said something when Trump praised the MMA fighter, Harris said: \u201cI think the Taoiseach did a very good job representing our country in the Oval Office, and I\u2019m very proud of the job he did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhen asked by reporters if Trump potentially endorsing McGregor to run for president of Ireland would amount to election interference, the T\u00e1naiste said: \u201cI think it\u2019s always better for elections to be decided, obviously, by those who live in a country and by the people of Ireland, and that\u2019s how our presidential election will be decided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t expect [McGregor] is going to be the president of Ireland. We have a long and proud tradition of electing excellent people of integrity and decency to \u00c1ras an Uachtar\u00e1in.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jane Moore and Christina Finn, 17 Mar 2025 THE T\u00c1NAISTE HAS said that Conor McGregor \u201cdoesn\u2019t speak for the people of Ireland\u201d after the MMA fighter arrived in Washington to hold a meeting with US President Donald Trump. The White House shared a video on X of McGregor emerging from the building before saying \u201cHappy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16166"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16166"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16167,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16166\/revisions\/16167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}