[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"transcript-79fab2f8-b325-463d-bcd9-8d7149392a86":3,"transcript-neighbors-79fab2f8-b325-463d-bcd9-8d7149392a86":16},{"id":4,"youtube_url":5,"transcript":6,"created_at":7,"folder_id":8,"name":9,"upload_date":10,"is_public":11,"is_premium":12,"speakers":8,"persona":13},"79fab2f8-b325-463d-bcd9-8d7149392a86","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=O1jIO7w-qnE","[00:00] Mike Kelly:\nAnd now without further ado, it's my honor to introduce our next speaker. It's a man who spent a lifetime working with the Irish, first to build skyscrapers and golf courses and now trade deals and diplomatic ties. It is my great honor to host him here in the Congress every time he comes down the street. He is our great 45th and 47th president, Donald J. Trump.\n\n[00:50] Donald Trump:\nWell thank you very much everybody. What an honor this is. Yeah, it's six times, can you believe it? Moving along, but we like it. Healthy guy between you and you, we've done very well medically, I can tell you. But it's a lot of, too long a story to tell, but these two guys are very special. I want to thank our great speaker, he's a great speaker actually. Because when you think of everything that we've passed with a sometimes majority of one, when we get back to two, three, and four, Mike, we think we have it really made. We lost a couple, and we had a couple of people, they're in heaven now they're looking in, and that didn't help us with the vote, but we're doing alright and you're getting things done like really nobody. I think there's never been anything like it, so I just want to thank you, you're doing a fantastic job. And I want to thank that beautiful—you're not allowed to say that about women anymore, but I say it anyway, usually it's the end of your career, you're not allowed to use the word beauty in any form to introduce a woman, but she happens to be beautiful, Kelly. Thank you very much, all Irish. I'm in deep trouble. I'm in deep trouble, there'll be headlines what I get out of this room, but I'll stick with it. But and then your family is so incredible too, so thank you very much. And to every friend of Ireland in this room today, I just want to wish you a very happy St. Patrick's Day, special day, very great day. And to Taoiseach, you are 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 then he said how did you speak for almost two hours a couple of weeks ago, at a call I'd called State of the Union? I said you could do it very easily, I guarantee you that, he can do it. But we've had a really great relationship and Mary, thank you very much. Terrific, thank you very much to be with you both, hope you enjoy your stay. Also with us is House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Steve, great job. Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland and they get along so well, I saw that, you get along very well, that's the way it's supposed to be, huh? I don't know if I should be promoting merger, I love mergers, but I don't know, we're gonna get in a little trouble, more trouble with that than the beauty. But Emma Little-Pengelly, thank you very much Emma, thank you very much. And the Ambassador from the Republic of Ireland, Geraldine Byrne Nason, Geraldine, thank you Geraldine, thank you very much. Ambassador from the United Kingdom, Christian Turner, Christian, thank you, thank you Christian, thank you very much. And the US Ambassador to Ireland, our great golfer, this guy can play golf, he can play golf, Walshie, right, can't you? But Trump's not bad. He's a great player and he's having a lot of fun over there. It's what is that for a guy who loves golf, is that the best location, can you imagine, Ambassador to Ireland? That's got to be the greatest job in the world. Anyway, have a good time, have a good time, you're doing a good job. As many of you know this year we're celebrating something that is very special, the 250th anniversary of America's founding. That's a big deal and I'm very happy to be here. I didn't—I wasn't supposed to be President right now, I was supposed to be maybe in Ireland taking it easy or some place taking it easy. But I'm President now and I got the Olympics, I have the World Cup, and I have the 250th year, and we all have it together. And I just do want to say that the war is proceeding very, very strongly. We're doing very, very well in Iran, knocking the hell out of them and you have to do that, we can't let them have a nuclear weapon. They were two weeks away in my opinion, two weeks away from having a nuclear weapon. If those beautiful, magnificent machines, those B-2 bombers, if they didn't do their job seven or eight months ago, they would have had a nuclear weapon and there would have been no talking to them, no talking at all, they would have used it very gladly, very happily, and you sort of see that by the fact that they were sending missiles, ballistic missiles, powerful missiles to all of their neighbors and for the most part they were supposed to be somewhat friendly with their neighbors. They were going to blow the hell out of them and that was going to be the Middle East, between Israel, the Middle East, and Europe would have been there and we would have been there, there would have been no stopping and we did a good job. And a lot of people appreciated it, a lot of presidents know they should have done it, it was 47 years of terror. Every time you see somebody with no legs, no arms, a face that's been really so badly damaged, so badly hurt, lives destroyed, 95% chance it came right out of Iran. They loved that bomb, they loved that bomb. And the father of that was as you know Soleimani, General Soleimani, and we got rid of him in my first term. And if we didn't get rid of him, I think it might have been a different story because he was a bad guy, but he was a brilliant guy if you like to fight dirty, and he fought as dirty as you can. So we've done something that a lot of people said that other people should have done long before I got here, but it's my honor to do it and we've had a very big day today, we knocked out things that nobody thought were possible to knock out. Today was a very big day already. As part of this great celebration we also honor 250 years of cherished Irish-American friendship and 250 years of fierce, proud, tenacious Irish-American heritage. These are incredible people. Oh, I know so many Irish, they're difficult though, you know? They're very difficult. And they're great politicians. You know, I was just told, right, that 23 American presidents have some Irish blood on them, right? Some a little bit and some a lot, right? That's a pretty big number, I don't think anyone else competes with that. But out of the 56 signers of our Declaration of Independence, 11 were patriots with roots in Ireland back in July 4th, 1776. It was a son of Ireland who actually printed that sacred document for the first time, who knew that? And it was also an Irishman who first read its immortal words to the American public, proclaiming aloud that we are all made free and equal by the hand of our creator and endowed by God with rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That came out of the blood of Ireland. The Irish did not come to America, they helped found America, the fact is, and they helped build America. And these are incredible people, I know them well. And with a little bit of Irish luck, they helped make America into the most exceptional nation the world has ever seen. And we're doing better, we had to do a little excursion if you don't mind, a little excursion to take care of nuclear weaponry in the hands of maniacs. But other than that, and a couple of weeks and won't be much longer, it's moving along fast, we're way ahead of schedule. Did you know that, Mr. Speaker? I'm trying to save a lot of money by being ahead of schedule, we're way ahead of schedule. Nobody would have thought, somebody a great war historian told me today, nobody would have thought you could do that much damage in that little time, two weeks. But we're way ahead. But we had prior to that and really I guess you could say after that, but prior to that and it'll bounce back so fast, oil prices will drop like a rock and the economy is so powerful, so strong, and you know we hit 50,000 on the Dow. Think of that, 50,000. I was told you'll never hit 50,000 not for the first three years, maybe at the end of the fourth year you might be able to hit it, we hit it in the first year. And we then hit 7,000 on the S&P and that was even more of a long shot, Steve, that was a chance that they said you couldn't do that, that was harder than 50 on the Dow. 7,000 on the S&P, we hit that before the end of the first year. And all of those things and then I said to myself well we're doing great, we're doing great. I went to Susie, my beautiful Susie Wiles, there's nobody like Susie, I went to Susie, and everybody's with her and she's a great woman really, she's a great woman. But I went to Susie, I always go to Susie, I said Susie do you mind if I take a little excursion here, do you mind if I you know we're hitting all these records right, the most more people are working in the United States today than ever before. As we I could name this, I don't want to bore you because this is all about Ireland, it's all about but you're a big part of it because you're a big part of this country. But I said do you mind if I take a little excursion, my chief of staff because I want to do this, I have Marco here, we have a lot of our great people, JD is here, they're all here. And I say let's let's do this, we got to do it right, should have been done by many presidents, should have been done long before 47 years, it's 40 years of living in terror. You know they're called the bully of the Middle East but they're really the bully of the world because he used oil to bribe right, they used oil to bribe and to you know gain power, I don't know what they gained, what did they gain? What the hell? How are they doing? Not so good, they're all gone now, every one of them they're all gone. We don't even know who our biggest problem we don't know who to deal with. Over here I can call the Speaker of the House, he's so powerful I can call him I can make a deal maybe. I can even call your Democrat counterpart this guy I said to Kelly what do you think of your counterpart? He said he's a great guy. This is Republican-Democrat, I never thought I was going to hear that about you. Let me shake your hand for that. When Kelly when Kelly tells me that I said that's the way it used to be you know that's the way not so long ago and maybe someday that's the way it'll be again. It's really great. But I said do you mind if I take a little excursion because we have to do something and it'll be a short-term excursion but we have all these great things going and we had to you know we could have we could have gone up up up it was only going in one direction but I think now it's going to go much higher than it would have gone had we not taken this little journey. And so I appreciate all of the people that have worked with us. That was a not an easy decision to make. We have a country that was hotter than any country anywhere in the world and doing great in every way and I say oh we have to put out this this cancer, it's a cancer. We had to take that operation and we did and it was very successful and it continues frankly as somebody said very they could leave today and it would take 10 years to rebuild the damage that's been done. But I think we have to make it a little bit more permanent because no other president has to go through this and we shouldn't have any other president having to go through this kind of a thing. And if they didn't want to do it, if for some reason they didn't want to do it, we'd have the same problem. We never want to have that problem again, not with lunatics. Can't have lunatics controlling nuclear weaponry. So I just want to thank everybody. Let's get back to Ireland, you mind? Ireland we don't mind, Ireland is a nice place. I love Ireland, in fact we're going to have the Irish Open at a property that happens to be owned by yours truly but I have nothing to do with it. I own it but I have no I don't even like to talk to my son. He says Dad we're doing great with the property. I'm allowed to, I'm allowed to run it, but I don't choose to. Dad we're doing great, Eric calls up, he's doing a good job. Do you like Eric? I think so right? Who doesn't like Eric? But he calls up, Dad we're doing a great job in Ireland. Oh what's going on? Well we're doing this and that. I said don't tell me about it, I don't want to know about it, I don't want to know about it. Of course if things were if we were treated badly I'd let him know very quickly, but but I think you are very as I think you are very proud of what's been done over there by the Trump Organization right? It's one of the greatest place one of the greatest golf courses of the world and it's an honor to hold the Irish Open there. It's coming up very shortly and it's a great honor. Thank you. And say hello to Rory McIlroy and all of those great players because they are truly great talent and they're wonderful people, friends of mine. But over the centuries 130 members of the House and Senate have been born in Ireland and been elected to work in these great halls. Think of it, it's a lot. Our national anthem itself was signed by the sight of the Star-Spangled Banner waving over the fort named for the son of Ireland, Fort Henry, Fort McHenry. When Americans ventured west on the Oregon Trail, they were guarded by troops stationed at Fort Riley named for the Irish-American warrior who President Grant called the finest specimen of physical manhood I've ever looked upon. We didn't know that about President Grant, I think we just learned something. But I could say that about your sons, okay Kelly? I could say that about your sons, one's a boxing champion, the other like champions. Who would think from this one, it's got to be from him. Well I didn't know about your Italian roots either. I thought he was a super WASP you know to me no to me Mike was always a WASP. Now I learn that this is serious Italian stuff right? Well that'll that'll be good for you I think you know your image his image has changed a hell of a lot very quickly. Oh he's great. Even today when Americans visit Gettysburg, they find a Celtic Cross honoring the soldiers of the famed Irish Brigade and defended our Union in its pivotal hour, most pivotal hour and they were there and it's said that more than 50% of all Congressional Medals of Honor awarded, think of that, 50% went to people who had parents one or the other Irish-American. That's a lot. We're gonna have to look that's because we have so many Irish politicians, that's how that works. But we can't let that we gotta make some changes in that, that's too many, don't you think Kelly? I think so. But from 1776 to today our country has stood strong and free in no small part due to the spirit of the warriors, you really are warriors, you're incredible and the Fighting Irish you know Notre Dame the Fighting Irish is a reason for it. I don't know how many Irish people are playing on the team though. How many Irish people do we have on the team? I'm not sure we have so many. Well you got him, you have Kelly. Kelly's a warrior let me tell you. As the Taoiseach has said and the President reminds us today the United States and Ireland continue to build upon the age-old bond together we are strengthening the ties of culture. We have a tremendous deficit by the way, I want to tell you right now I looked at the numbers, you guys are much better business people than our past politicians. We have to talk about that deficit, are we allowed to talk about that today? It's a substantial deficit. Okay tomorrow, okay Walsh said tomorrow. And cooperation that really does stretch back many many generations. Under our leadership as we speak Irish companies are investing more than $6 billion into the United States including $45 million in Pennsylvania, $70 million in Colorado, and over $100 million in New Mexico and Ohio. And I'm hopeful that we'll soon reach a deal to let American liquefied natural gas and that'll bring down your deficits a lot, so I think you have to make this deal with us, you know gotta do something. But these companies are going to be fueling your homes and factories and all of the other things. We got a lot of we have a lot of energy in this country, we have more than anybody, we have the most energy of any country in the world by far. So we want to sell a little of that to you and the deficit will come down, down, down and everybody's going to be happy. So you gotta buy a lot of our stuff. But in this small and beautiful it's a beautiful room, I love this room, it's been a very warm room, I've had a good time, I have so many friends and so many relationships that I've gotten from this room, mostly from this event. But on this St. Patrick's Day as we press ahead toward the opportunities that await, let us remember the beautiful words of Saint Patrick himself: May the power of God preserve us. May the wisdom of God instruct us. May the hand of God protect us. May the way of God direct us. May the shield of God defend us and may the host of God guard us. That's beautiful. Thank you. And today we add, may God bless the people of Ireland and may God bless the United States of America. And it's great to be with you. Thank you very much everybody. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you very much. Happy to see you. Thanks President. Thank you. Thank you so much. Good to see you. Thank you. Thank you everybody.\n\n[19:42] Mike Kelly:\nWell, top that. Well, right. Thank you, Mr. President, for saying that my sons are tougher than me. That's really appreciate that on national television. As you say, thoroughbreds make thoroughbreds, okay, we'll go with that. Mr. President, I am so honored to introduce our special guest and this is not his first one of these luncheons of Friends of Ireland and he has been a great friend to us. And without further ado, I will bring up and introduce the Taoiseach himself, Mr. Martin. Thank you so much.\n\n[20:26] Micheál Martin:\nMr. President, Mr. Speaker, Chairman Neal and Kelly, representatives, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for welcoming me and Mary of course to Washington DC to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. I'm delighted that I'm here today with of course the Deputy First Minister from Northern Ireland, Emma Little-Pengelly, and of course the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Hilary Benn, who is also with us. Mr. Speaker, I greatly appreciate your kind words and for hosting this lunch. And may I pay tribute to your wisdom in choosing an impeccable Irish woman with great heritage as your wife, and with a name O'Leary you have to be from my part of the country in in Ireland. But we greatly appreciate your kind words and a proud tradition this is since its inception back in 1983 as you said through the shared vision of President Reagan and Speaker Tip O'Neill. And this gathering signifies the ties that bind our two countries and the bipartisan commitment to peace and reconciliation in Ireland. Almost 250 years ago this country embarked on a great democratic experiment, one driven by the idea that we all share natural rights to life, to liberty, and to the pursuit of happiness. Those values were eloquently expressed in the Declaration of Independence, signed by three men born on the island of Ireland, and many others of Irish descent. And first printed by Irishman John Dunlap. Since the founding of the United States, Irish people have been at the beating heart of American democracy and civic life. As politicians, faith leaders, police officers, firefighters, nurses, community leaders, and construction workers, Irish people have to build the American dream with tenacity and with courage. As all of us in this room know, courage comes in many forms. Mr. Speaker, today I am reminded of Margaret Haughery, a woman born into deep poverty in County Leitrim in 1813, who found a better future in your own state of Louisiana. Through hard work and determination, Margaret overcame tragedy to set up a number of businesses, first a small dairy and then a bakery which grew to employ 40 people. She was renowned for her business acumen, her deep faith, and her charity. The orphanages she helped to build across New Orleans remain as her legacy. Margaret's grit and determination, her hard work, entrepreneurship, and innovation, and her dedication to giving back to her community embodies the best of what it is to be Irish here in the United States and at home in Ireland. Margaret Haughery was an entrepreneur to her bones, but she would marvel at the economic relationship that exists today between Ireland and the United States. Every day across this great United States more than 200,000 Americans go to work each morning in nearly 800 Irish-owned companies, operating in every sector, in every state, and Ireland is the fifth largest foreign investor in the US. From little acorns mighty oaks grow. Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, on my journey to Washington this year I stopped by Philadelphia, the birthplace of the American Revolution and the home of your remarkable Declaration of Independence. Viewing the exhibition at the Museum of the American Revolution, I was struck by how those who signed the Declaration knew that the profound and serious step they were taking would change not just this part of the world, but the course of human history. Nothing would ever be the same again. As Thomas Jefferson himself declared: May our Declaration of Independence be to the world what I believe it will be, to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all, the signal of arousing men to burst the chains and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The American Revolution gave hope and example to all who yearned to be free, including in Ireland. That the Great Republic launched in 1776 exists today owes much to the vision and wisdom of its founding figures, but it also owes its enduring strength to all those who have played their part in sustaining it, including in those who have served in this august building. Mr. Speaker, Congress continues to play its vital part in the story of American democracy under your leadership, Mr. Speaker. Congress has also brought people together across the aisles to play a pivotal role in achieving and securing a lasting peace on the island of Ireland. I pay tribute to the generations of people who have served here and who believed in and invested in this peace. We will never forget them. We will always remember that in our darkest and bleakest hours they kept the faith. And we still need your support and your energy to maintain that peace and to support reconciliation. Mr. President, thank you for your friendship for Ireland, a country you know well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for your gracious hospitality for this opportunity to break bread with so many true friends of Ireland. There is truth in the Irish proverb that the road to a friend's house is never long. Thank you, co-chairs Mike Kelly and Richie Neal, for your unstinting commitment to peace and prosperity on the island of Ireland. And thank you for bringing so many members of the of this House from both sides of the aisle together on St. Patrick's Day and throughout the year. A very happy St. Patrick's Day to you all. As we say in Gaelic, go raibh míle maith agaibh agus beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh go léir. Thank you very much indeed.","2026-09-04T15:18:21.045132+00:00",null,"President Trump Participates in the Friends of Ireland Luncheon","20260317",true,false,{"name":14,"slug":15,"image_url":8},"Donald Trump","donald-trump",{"prev":17,"next":20},{"id":18,"name":19},"e54524cf-6059-4a63-9784-b6666107ed71","President Trump Participates in the Shamrock Bowl Presentation",{"id":21,"name":22},"d407c41f-08d1-4e51-b381-e8dd863659d0","President Trump Participates in a Lunch with the Trump Kennedy Center Board Members"]