Fallon's Town Talk: Irish government needs to be in place for the return of Trump
A new government needs to be in place to prepare for what Trump 2.0 has in store for Ireland; to discover if we are one of those nations in his sights. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The Irish media are often criticised for being too obsessed with US politics. Nonetheless, when Micheál Martin references the imminent inauguration of Donald Trump as a factor in speeding up government formation, it’s clear what happens in Washington is looming large over Irish politics.
One positive of Trump’s election victory is that it’s concentrating minds in coalition negotiations. The voters have every right to ask why it has taken so long to get the Dáil back up and running given that the nation went to polls on November 29th, especially since Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are so familiar with one another.
A new government needs to be in place to prepare for what Trump 2.0 has in store for Ireland; to discover if we are one of those nations in his sights. Trump has promised to introduce tariffs, which would spark a trade war with the EU and impact drastically on Irish exports to the US. Just as seriously, maybe more so, officials in the incoming administration want giant US tech companies to relocate to the mother nation or at least pay their taxes there.
As the dogs on the streets know, Ireland has become overly dependent on the tax bonanza from those US corporations. It’s the reason Ireland’s economic growth is an outlier in western Europe. That will change dramatically if those taxes are diverted back to the US.
It’s not just Ireland that is wary, of course. The world is holding its breath for what awaits when Trump returns to the White House. Ukraine must be petrified that the new president will leave them to their fate.
However, Trump switched his attention to unlikely targets last week when he said he wanted to take Greenland from Denmark, reclaim the Panama Canal and outlined the positives of Canada and the US uniting. Everyone knows Trump and his acolytes are revelling in the way they are unnerving the US’s erstwhile allies; Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, hadn’t the stomach for the upcoming turbulence and resigned.
What has been fascinating is how the attitude of the rest of the world has changed since Trump previously took office in 2017. Back then, his election was greeted with a mixture of disbelief, disdain, disquiet and a measure of condescension.
All is changed, changed utterly. This time around, leaders of other nations are doing all they can to ingratiate themselves with the new administration. The world is also different to 2016: Trump-like leaders are being elected across the western world as politics has shifted notably to the right.
It’s the same with the social media behemoths who treated Trump with suspicion the first time around, now they are queuing up seeking his favour.
Elon Musk, the owner of X, is acting like a co-president, but should be careful not to over-reach. The Donald is like Joey in ‘Friends’: he doesn’t share. If Musk continues to seek the limelight, the bromance will come to an abrupt end.
The new vibe was exemplified by the actions of Mark Zuckerberg, the head of Meta. Four years ago, in the wake of the January 6th attacks in Washington, Zuckerberg banned Trump from Facebook. Last week, Zuckerberg got rid of fact-checkers and said he wanted to join forces with the president, especially in taking on the more regulation-conscious EU.
Trump was asked if he thought his previous threats to Zuckerberg led to the transformation in his thinking; Trump replied nonchalantly, “Probably.” We are entering the Age of the Bellicose Bully.
The Irish government and its diplomats will need to be adroit at reading the room as Trump takes charge next Tuesday.
Two groups of people deserve praise for their sterling work last week. The Roscommon Town Lights Committee went about their work taking down the lights with their customary efficiency last weekend. As always, the lights were intrinsic to making Christmas special in Roscommon this year.
The exceptionally mild weather at Christmas was followed by an Arctic blast last week with temperatures going as low as -6.6. in Mount Dillon last Friday morning. The ESB and Uisce Éireann worked heroically to make sure people had power and water while Roscommon County Council staff kept the main roads in the county safe.
One of the leading officials in Kilkenny County Council made a salient point last week: the key to combating ice and snow is the timing of the gritting. From my own experience, Roscommon got their timing spot-on for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning. Well done to all involved.
