The Minister of State at the Department of Justice has said the St Patrick's Day visit to the White House by the Taoiseach "isn't just about Micheál Martin and Donald Trump" and that Ireland and the US share "deep economic and cultural ties".
"This trip has many, many layers and levels of engagement at federal, state and city level," Niall Collins said.
Speaking on the Saturday with Cormac Ó hÉadhra programme, he said the St Patrick's Day visits go to all of the major cities and states across the US.
"We have a huge cohort of diaspora living in every corner of the United States. The United States and Ireland share huge, deep, economic, cultural [and] historical ties," explained Mr Collins.
Yesterday evening, the Taoiseach confirmed that he had accepted an invitation from Mr Trump to meet with him on St Patrick's Day.
The Taoiseach said that the meeting will be "an opportunity to celebrate the warm and historic friendship between the US and Ireland".
While the St Patrick's week White House visit is now a firm annual tradition, the deteriorating relations between the EU and Mr Trump's government, in addition to Mr Trump's foreign and domestic policies, have led to growing calls for Ireland not to attend this year's events.
Mr Collins said it was important to keep in mind that around 400,000 people in Ireland make their livelihood either directly or indirectly through American foreign direct investment.
Speaking on the same programme, the leader of Aontú Peadar Tóibín said the reality is that Mr Trump is the President of the US and the United States has significant influence on Irish trade in terms of tariffs, corporation tax and hundreds of thousands of jobs.
He said Ireland has more leverage than many European countries.
"It is amazing to me that there's 40 million Irish Americans in the States. And Ireland has that leverage. Most of the countries don't. There's no French American vote. There's no British American vote in the States. There is an Irish American vote," Mr Tóibín said.
The TD for Meath East said he comes from the Good Friday school of politics whereby you "don't just talk to people you agree with".
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin's spokesperson on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development said it is the Taoiseach's job to go to Washington and that a visit by Mr Martin on St Patrick's Day should not be taken "in any way" as agreement with the policies of the Trump administration.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Also speaking on the same programme, Louise O'Reilly said Mr Martin can use the visit to speak about issues like Palestine and how revulsed people are when they see the actions of ICE agents in the US.
She said Sinn Féin's party leadership will decide shortly if they should send delegates to Washington this year. The party did not go last year.
Speaking at the start of the second day of the Social Democrats national conference in Cork city, Ms Cairns said while she has concerns about the meeting she understands why it is taking place.
Deputy Cairns told reporters that "given the quite contentious things coming out of the White House at the moment, perhaps it's more important than ever to use this unique platform that Ireland has".
