The Government will launch a charm offensive on the United States this St Patrick’s Day.
It’s sending the Taoiseach, Tanaiste and eight Ministers to America to build relationships under the Donald Trump administration.
Junior Sports Minister Charlie McConalogue is going to Colombia, while Junior Higher Education Minister Marian Harkin will travel to Belgium and the Netherlands.
In total, 37 Ministers, the Chairs of the Dail and Seanad and the Attorney General will all head off on St Patrick’s Day trips across the World.
10 of these will go to the US with the Taoiseach heading to Washington and Texas and the Tanaiste off to New York and Philadelphia.
Elswhere Paschal Donohoe will go to Germany, Helen McEntee is off to Australia and James Browne is off to China.
The Opposition has raised questions about the American trips – with Richard Boyd Barrett from People Before Profit saying Ireland shouldn’t bend the knee to Donald Trump who he described as a bully.
In the midst of all these trips, every year one Minister has to stay at home to steer the ship if something goes wrong.
That person this year is Michael Healy Rae.
The full list is as follows –
Ministerial travel to US for St Patrick’s Day 2025
| Title | Deputy | Destination |
| Taoiseach | Micheál Martin | Texas and Washington DC |
| Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs & Trade; Minister for Defence | Simon Harris | Philadelphia and New York |
| Minister for Climate, Environment and Energy and Minister for Transport | Darragh O’Brien | Miami and Los Angeles |
| Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment | Peter Burke | Boston and New Hampshire |
| Minister for Social Protection and Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht | Dara Calleary | Atlanta and Savannah |
| Minister for Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport | Patrick O’Donovan | Seattle and San Francisco |
| Minister for Health | Jennifer Carroll MacNeill | UN Commission on the Status of Women, New York and Chicago |
| Attorney General | Rossa Fanning SC | Michigan and Montana |
| Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment with special responsibility for Small Businesses and Retail and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications with special responsibility for Circular Economy | Alan Dillon | Utah (and Vancouver in Canada) |
Ministerial travel to other locations for St Patrick’s Day 2025
| Title | Deputy | Destination |
| Minister for Finance | Paschal Donohoe | Germany |
| Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation | Jack Chambers | Chile and Argentina |
| Minister for Children, Disability and Equality | Norma Foley | London |
| Minister for Education and Youth | Helen McEntee | Australia |
| Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration | Jim O’Callaghan | Italy, Holy See and Malta |
| Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage | James Browne | China |
| Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science | James Lawless | India |
| Government Chief Whip and Minister of State attending cabinet with responsibility for Mental Health | Mary Butler | Denmark and Sweden |
| Minister of State attending cabinet with responsibility for Disability | Hildegarde Naughton | Japan |
| Minister of State attending cabinet with responsibility for Food Promotion, New Markets, Research and Development | Noel Grealish | Vietnam and Cambodia |
| Minister of State attending cabinet with responsibility for International and Road Transport, Logistics, Rail and Ports | Sean Canney | Brazil |
| Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Foreign Affairs with special responsibility for European Affairs and at the Department of Defence | Thomas Byrne | France |
| Minister of State at the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media with Special Responsibility for Sport and Postal Policy | Charlie McConalogue | Colombia |
| Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform with responsibility for the Office of Public Work | Kevin Boxer Moran | Portugal |
| Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform with special responsibility for Public Procurement, Digitalisation and eGovernment | Emer Higgins | Western Australia |
| Minister of State at the Department of Finance with special responsibility for Financial Services, Credit Unions and Insurance | Robert Troy | Czechia |
| Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs with special responsibility for International Development and Diaspora | Neale Richmond | Kenya and Tanzania |
| Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development, with special responsibility for Community Development, Charities, Gaeltacht and the Islands and the Department of Transport with special responsibility for Rural Transport | Jerry Buttimer | New Zealand |
| Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage with special responsibility for Local Government and Planning | John Cummins | Thailand and the Philippines |
| Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage with special responsibility for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity | Christopher O’Sullivan | Norway & Poland |
| Minister of State at the Department of Health with special responsibility for Older People and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage with special responsibility for Housing | Kieran O’Donnell | Cardiff and Manchester |
| Minister of State at the Department of Health with special responsibility for Public Health, Well Being and the National Drugs Strategy | Jennifer Murnane O’Connor | Greece and Cyprus |
| Minister of State at the Department of Justice with special responsibility for International Law, Law Reform and Youth Justice | Niall Collins | Mexico |
| Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment with special responsibility for Trade Promotion, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation | Niamh Smyth | Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania |
| Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with special responsibility for Fisheries and at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications with special responsibility for the Marine | Timmy Dooley | Canada |
| Minister of State at the Department of Justice with special responsibility for Migration | Colm Brophy | Spain |
| Minister of State at the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science with special responsibility for Further Education, Apprenticeship, Construction and Climate Skills | Marian Harkin | Netherlands and Belgium |
| Ceann Comhairle | Verona Murphy | Switzerland |
| Cathaoirleach Seanad | TBC | Edinburgh |
