By late February, Taoiseach Micheál Martin had still not received the traditional invite to the White House to celebrate St Patrick’s Day.
By contrast, arrangements for Conor McGregor’s March 17th visit to president Donald Trump at the White House had, at that point, long been confirmed.
An official visit by the mixed martial arts fighter was first discussed during McGregor’s attendance at Trump’s inauguration on January 20th. Discussions continued over email and shortly afterwards a formal invite came from a prominent figure in Trump’s circle, said a source with knowledge of the arrangements.
All parties were sworn to secrecy. The first the public heard of it was a social media post by McGregor on March 16th saying he was landing in Washington shortly “for the most important meeting of my countries [sic] future”.
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Around the same time he posted a short video of his partner Dee Devlin performing a jig on a private plane, alongside a caption in garbled Irish which seemed to complain about aid to Afghanistan.
By his standards, McGregor’s entourage was a small one. As well as his partner and children, he was joined by his long-time coaches John Kavanagh and Julian Dalby and Independent Dublin city councillor for Ballyfermot-Drimnagh and former Olympic boxer Phil Sutcliffe.
“I travel a lot with Conor when I can,” Sutcliffe said.
The councillor, who has been training McGregor in boxing for more than 20 years, spoke to The Irish Times about the fighter’s US visit last week from Sutcliffe’s luxurious Washington, DC, hotel having just finished attending a Dublin City Council meeting via video conference.
“I know his mother. I know his wife and family. We’re very good friends,” he said.
On arrival in the White House on March 17th, McGregor took a handful of reporters' questions in the press briefing room before being ushered away by Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, for meetings in the Pentagon.
Afterwards he returned to the White House to meet Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk. The family went inside the Oval Office while the rest of McGregor’s followers waited outside.
Trump showed off a map depicting how he had renamed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America and McGregor presented Musk with a box of “Notorious” cigars, his latest business venture.
Despite McGregor’s claim of it being “the important meeting”, the short encounter amounted to little more than a photo op and some mutual flattery.
He was joined by a handful of other Trump supporters, including Mark Burnett, the creator of The Apprentice reality show and Trump’s recently appointed special envoy to the UK.
While the Trump meeting may have been brief, McGregor spent the rest of the visit being ferried around the capital to meet its most powerful men.
He held meetings with US secretary of defense Pete Hegseth, secretary of health Robert F Kennedy Jr, national security adviser Mike Waltz and director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office Sergio Gor, among others.
The main topic of discussion was McGregor’s distorted claims about immigration “running ravage” on Ireland, an issue his hosts were happy to engage on. “US, Ireland Both Suffer Impacts of Illegal Immigration,” was the headline in a subsequent press release from the Department of Defense detailing McGregor’s visit. The topics were among subjects McGregor has offered opinions on in the past.
But immigration was only part of the discussions, said Sutcliffe who was present for many of the meetings. Other topics included sport, Irish Government spending on the national children’s hospital and the cost of the notorious Leinster House bike shed and security hut, he says.
Also discussed were the Burkes, the Irish evangelical family who gatecrashed part of the Taoiseach’s visit to Washington the previous week to protest against the imprisonment of family member Enoch Burke on contempt of court charges.
“I have a lot of time for the Burkes and I know speaking to people over here that they do too – even the secretary of defense,” said Sutcliffe.
He said their hosts were well aware that a High Court jury in Dublin had, in November, directed that McGregor pay almost €250,000 in damages in a civil assault case to a woman who accused him of rape in a Dublin hotel in 2018. The jury’s finding did not cause any issues on McGregor’s trip, Sutcliffe maintains.
“Of course they care about it. They care about what’s true. But they can read between the lines‚” said Sutcliffe, who does not accept the jury’s ruling. (The councillor attended court with McGregor among a group of supporters on the day of the jury’s verdict.)
Later in McGregor’s US trip, the MMA fighter had dinner with Texas attorney general Ken Paxton. The two discussed their shared antipathy towards the transgender community and Paxton’s investigation into puberty-blocking drugs, according to one of McGregor’s social media posts after their meeting.
Back in Ireland, McGregor’s visit and his claims about immigration prompted a wave of criticism.
“Conor McGregor’s remarks are wrong, and do not reflect the spirit of St Patrick’s Day, or the views of the people of Ireland,” said the Taoiseach, while Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said his “heart fell” when he learned of the meeting.
[ Opinion: Of course the White House invited Conor McGregor for St Patrick’s DayOpens in new window ]
The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre called the visit “sinister” and said it was designed to “launder” McGregor’s reputation. Without naming him, the Garda released a statement saying his comments about crime levels in Ireland are not based in fact.
Unsurprisingly McGregor has doubled down, announcing yesterday he will soon be sending his “orders” to the Irish Government to be implemented within “12 days”.
“Be the hero here and save yourselves, and save Ireland, or my direct plan of action that Ireland and America wishes to see implemented will come in on White House paper attached with my signature,” he posted.
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Many believe all of this is a prelude to McGregor formally entering the race for the Irish presidential election which is due to take place after the summer. McGregor has repeatedly indicated he intends to run, although it is not at all clear if he would obtain the required support to get on the ballot paper.
Sutcliffe says he hopes McGregor will run and that he will have Washington’s full support if he does.
“Not only Washington, he’ll have the backing of Putin. He’s another fan of Conor’s,” he added.
