Taoiseach Micheál Martin should ignore any untruths told by US president Donald Trump at their meeting tomorrow, advises former taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
Speaking on Prime Time, Mr Ahern, who attended the White House for the annual St Patrick's Day shamrock presentation 11 times, described Mr Trump as "predictably unpredictable".
He recommended against getting bogged down in any dispute with the US President, as happened recently during a chaotic White House meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky.
"If [Mr Trump] goes off on a tangent, I'd let him, I’d just sit it out. I don't see there's any point in getting involved. You say your piece. You can be accused of being too quiet, but so what?" Mr Ahern said.
Asked if he would intervene even if Mr Trump were saying something that is incorrect, Mr Ahern replied, "No, I just don't see the point."
Mr Ahern pointed to recent examples where French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer corrected Mr Trump on inaccurate figures relating to European spending on Ukraine.
"I was delighted when Starmer did that and when Macron did it. But [Mr Trump] just used the wrong figures again the following day and has persisted in using the wrong figures."
Mr Trump has frequently stated that the US has spent $200bn (€190bn) more than Europe in supporting Ukraine. However, data from the Kiel Institute, which tracks aid for Ukraine, shows Europe has spent more than the US overall.
He has also claimed that European financial support was in the form of loans when, as Prime Time has previously reported, most of it was granted rather than loaned.
The day of the shamrock presentation, Mr Ahern says, is typically "a set piece" of formal encounters.
But he warns that the schedule could be thrown off course by a president who "doesn’t seem capable of sticking to a script for longer than about 60 seconds."
Mr Ahern also said that their "polar opposite" views on Gaza may be a point of contention.
While Mr Martin has repeatedly accused Israel - and Hamas - of violating humanitarian law, Mr Trump is a resolute and hawkish supporter of Israel.
"The American position on the Palestinians now is very clear - it is the agenda of Israel, full stop," Mr Ahern said.
"They don't seem really to be serious about a two-state solution. I mean, they keep on saying that the Palestinians should move elsewhere," Mr Ahern said.
However, US-Ireland trade is "the more important thing for Ireland," he said.
"I think it'd be good for President Trump to get a bit of a lesson on, on the facts. American companies, didn't come [to Ireland] because of the weather. They didn't come here to watch Gaelic football. They came here because it's very profitable. That profit is paid back to investors, mainly his base and supporters and backers in the United States."
"It seems as if we just talk about the trade figures all the time, but all those companies, the pharmaceuticals, the tech... wouldn't have the European market, they wouldn't have the benefits" if they were located in the United States.
It would be "very helpful" if Mr Trump gained "a good understanding of why the tariffs would not help our business and would not help the kind of a trade that we have," Mr Ahern said.
Mr Ahern emphasised that he has faith in Mr Martin’s political and diplomatic experience to keep tomorrow's meeting on course. From an Irish perspective, he said, success would be for nothing notable to happen.
"If tomorrow is a boring day - great," he said.
