Ireland's Taoiseach Micheál Martin discussed his meeting with US President Donald Trump in a new episode of "The Bookshelf with Ryan Tubridy" podcast.
While the podcast usually focuses on books and what the guest is reading, Tubridy broached the matter of the Taoiseach's meeting with US President Donald Trump in the White House just days before St. Patrick's Day.
The meeting - which was boycotted by some groups in Ireland and Northern Ireland - stirred up lots of conversation, though ultimately, the Taoiseach mostly avoided any major missteps.
"End goal"
When asked if he was nervous heading into the meeting, Martin admitted: "I was good, actually, I was looking forward to it.
"There's all this advice coming. I thought the thing was a bit overhyped in advance, but, be that as that may, it kind of had to be given everything that happened before.
"Every meeting I have, you have to have a clear set of objectives. You need to know what the end goal is."
He added: "The most important thing in the meetings is to develop a chemistry between yourself and the other person. In a short space of time, can you develop [chemistry]? Which can then be a building block for later."
Tubridy said, in his "analysis," Martin did the "silent treatment" with Trump, but clarified saying: "I don't mean silent, silent. I just felt, you kind of went zen."
Martin agreed with Tubridy that the meeting "could have gone pear-shaped," but added: "But you kind of have to navigate that piece."
When asked how, Martin explained: "I had clear messages I wanted to get across, such as the Irish contribution in terms of investment in America, and the Ryanair thing and all of that, and it's not all a one-way street."
"Deft and clever"
The Taoiseach said he thought the US President was "very deft and clever."
Elaborating, he said Trump "clearly got out, 'you guys stole our pharmaceutical,' but he said it in the nicest possible way: 'You guys are smart, these guys are very smart, they took all our pharmaceuticals, but it's all because of these stupid Presidents that went before me.'
"Message received. 'You guys have too much pharma, and this is a problem for America.'
"But, equally, we were able to kind of counter that."
Trump "likes Ireland"
The Taoiseach went on to say that Trump "likes Ireland," noting that the Trump kids' nanny was Irish and that they "have great time for her, real respect."
The Taoiseach said that Trump told him a lot of the people he worked with in the construction industry in New York were Irish and Irish American.
"The majority of Irish Americans voted for him is his take, and they probably did, the older age groups," the Taoiseach said.
"Opening doors"
The Taoiseach's meeting with President Trump came not after the dramatic meeting in the White House between Trump and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Martin acknowledged that the "context is different to President Zelenskyy's."
He said: "This is Irish America, it's a good day, he [Trump] has about 600 people invited who are connected and so on like that, and I was conscious of all that."
Martin said having clear goals - which, for him, were economic and maintaining the relationship - made it easier to engage.
"A lot of this is about opening doors for others as well," the Taoiseach added, "It's an important relationship, so that when other ministers want to meet their counterparts, it happens.
"And so this is not just the one meeting, it's also a signal to industry, it's a signal to wider people.
"And the industry, people liked it, because they said, 'Look, the doors are open here' and notwithstanding all the challenges, and it's going to be difficult, we have access."
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