\u201cHe is a very close friend to president Trump,\u201d Graham said then of Walsh, a New Jersey businessman. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo our friends in Ireland, you are getting one of the closest friends that president Trump has, and that will benefit you because when Ed picks up the phone president Trump will answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
One year after Walsh moved into the ambassador\u2019s historic mansion at Deerfield in Phoenix Park, he has taken to his role as Trump\u2019s man in Ireland with gusto. <\/p>\n
![\"Donald](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/32XLO4TLQBBILD3RLRGU63F23U.jpg\")
Donald Trump makes a video address to 4,000 guests attending the US independence day party hosted by ambassador Ed Walsh at his residence in Phoenix Park. Photograph: Paulo Nunes dos Santos <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s an outward plausibility, but he doesn\u2019t hold back in private in terms of his robust Trump rhetoric,\u201d says a senior Dubliner who has met him in person. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a very Trumpy presentation when you\u2019re in one-to-one.\u201d <\/p>\n
Walsh hosted no less than 4,000 guests for a July 1st party<\/a> at the 62-acre residence to mark 250 years<\/a> of US independence. In a video message to the throng, Trump said his ambassador was a \u201cgreat golfer\u201d and described Irish-Americans as integral to the American story. <\/p>\n \u201cThey are rough and tough and smart,\u201d Trump said of the Irish. <\/p>\n On July 4th \u2013 the actual US independence day \u2013 Walsh hosted hundreds of family guests at the \u201cspectacular\u201d wedding in Deerfield of his daughter Anna and Pat Beljan. <\/p>\n A slick Instagram film of the razzmatazz showed kilted drummers, marquee dancing, fireworks over the residence and jovial revellers enthusiastically enjoying abundant hospitality. In a post on Facebook, Walsh\u2019s sister Kath described the festivities as \u201cthe coolest wedding ever\u201d.<\/p>\n The next day the ambassador was photographed at the Black Forge Inn in Drimnagh, Dublin, the pub and restaurant owned by mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor<\/a>. \u201cWelcome back\u201d said a message on the pub Facebook page, suggesting Walsh had been there before. <\/p>\n McGregor is a Trump acolyte who brought his family into the White House on an infamous visit<\/a> with the president in the Oval Office on St Patrick\u2019s Day 2025. That was four short months after a High Court jury handed down a civil case ruling<\/a> that the professional fighter raped Dublin woman Nikita Hand six years previously. <\/p>\n Business partners abandoned McGregor yet Trump sailed on, seemingly unperturbed by the court findings against his guest. But the Black Forge visit was immediately seen as a major faux-pas by Walsh \u2013 an undiplomatic gesture that was bound to raise hackles.<\/p>\n Dublin Rape Crisis Centre chief executive Rachel Morrogh was quick to criticise Walsh, saying the ambassador was \u201cnormalising and trivialising\u201d sexual violence. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was hugely disappointing to learn that the US government\u2019s official representative in Ireland … paid a visit to an establishment owned by a person who has been found civilly liable of rape,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n Former taoiseach Leo Varadkar was shocked, saying the ambassador had made a \u201cbig, big mistake\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cWhat messages does this send out to women? What messages does it send out to victims of rape and sexual assault?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n The US embassy declined to comment, as did Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin and T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris when pressed on the matter<\/a> by reporters. <\/p>\n Still, there is no doubt the episode has led to a questioning of Walsh\u2019s judgment in diplomatic circles. <\/p>\n \u201cIt generated some controversy,\u201d says one diplomatic figure. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was a surprising decision to go particularly because the guy is under a cloud \u2013 it\u2019s not as if we thought he was St Francis of Assisi,\u201d the person adds, in reference to McGregor.<\/p>\n \u201cThis guy was involved in an appalling series of actions against a vulnerable woman \u2013 that would have been the big reaction.\u201d<\/p>\n At the same time, the Walsh visit was seen against the backdrop of Trump efforts to export his Make America Great Again (Maga) outlook. <\/p>\n This week the US state department started a new initiative to provide funding up to $3 million (\u20ac2.6 million) to promote \u201ccivilisational bonds\u201d with like-minded movements in Europe that share its views on national sovereignty, mass migration and censorship.<\/p>\n \u201cThis clearly has Maga written all over it,\u201d the diplomatic figure says of the Black Forge Inn visit. He goes on to note Trump\u2019s long-term friendship with Dana White, the chief of Ultimate Fighting Championship, the group behind the mixed martial arts bout held on the White House lawn in June. <\/p>\n McGregor has no political base to speak of and failed last year to secure any expressions of support from Oireachtas members or county councils before halting his putative bid to contest the presidential election.<\/p>\n [\u00a0A Trump speech attacking \u2018our election infrastructure\u2019 sets alarm bells ringingOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n Still, his disputed claims about Ireland \u201cpotentially losing its Irishness\u201d chime in some way with Trump\u2019s view that Europe is facing \u201ccivilisational erasure\u201d. <\/p>\n Walsh was notably present in January at a political conference hosted by Eddie Hobbs, the financial adviser-turned-campaigner, who said people seeking a new Irish government<\/a> to cut immigration should seek help from the Maga movement. <\/p>\n In turn, Hobbs was among thousands gathered at Deerfield on July 1st. This was hardly a surprise. <\/p>\n \u201cAccording to himself, he can pick out Trump-haters here,\u201d says a close observer of the ambassador. The same goes for Trump\u2019s Irish aficionados. <\/p>\n But who is Ed Walsh? What brought him to Ireland? What are his connections to Trump? And what else has he been saying since taking up his prestigious post? <\/p>\n Edward Sharp Walsh, the great-great grandson of Co Clare emigrants, is founder of a New Jersey construction and real estate business. He established the Walsh Company from the basement of his home in 2003, with seven staff. He sold that business for an undisclosed sum in 2012 to Canadian group Avison Young, staying with the buyer until 2018. He relaunched the Walsh-named business in 2019 and remains its owner.<\/p>\n \u201cAn avid golfer, he is a member of Trump National Bedminster, where he has won six club championships,\u201d says his embassy biography, referring to the president\u2019s private golf club in New Jersey. <\/p>\n For all that, the ambassador\u2019s original political links were with former New Jersey governor Chris Christie. Walsh served two terms under Christie as chairman of the state school development body. <\/p>\n He was among 60 local business chiefs on Christie\u2019s finance team<\/a> in his failed bid for the republican nomination in the 2016 US election, when Trump won his first White House term. <\/p>\n The fundraising group \u2013 led by members of Christie\u2019s inner circle, spanning \u201cdevelopers and life sciences CEOs to attorneys and utility executives\u201d \u2013 was described as a \u201cwho\u2019s who\u201d of New Jersey business.<\/p>\n [\u00a0Neither Martin nor Harris dared rebuke the US ambassador. Varadkar had no such qualmsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n Christie later became an ally of Trump but is now a unrepentant foe of the president, recently describing him as \u201cundisciplined, immature and narcissistic\u201d but not \u201cstupid\u2019.<\/p>\n By contrast, Walsh\u2019s political support for Trump and fealty to him is by now well-established. <\/p>\n \u201cHe clearly does what his boss says,\u201d notes the diplomatic figure. <\/p>\n He has also contributed financially to the Trump machine. Federal Election Commission records show he gave $13,200 to Trump campaign committees over five donations in 2024 \u2013 far above his $364 donation to the campaign of Robert F Kennedy jnr, now Trump\u2019s health secretary. <\/p>\n Trump nominated Walsh as ambassador designate in December 2024, the month before his second term began, describing him as a \u201cgreat philanthropist in his local community\u201d. <\/p>\n He was sworn in by US secretary of state Marco Rubio in the Oval Office in June 2025 and presented his credentials<\/a> the next month to then president Michael D Higgins. <\/p>\n \u201cI am truly grateful to my friend, president Donald J Trump, for his trust in me,\u201d he said at a ceremony in \u00c1ras an Uachtar\u00e1in. <\/p>\n Higgins was succeeded in October by Catherine Connolly, an avowed critic of US foreign policy. Walsh, Connolly\u2019s near neighbour in Phoenix Park, made clear his own assessment of the new President when interviewed in the Sunday Times in June, saying her views were \u201cnot really very relevant, because she doesn\u2019t have much of a say anyway\u201d. <\/p>\n Many in Irish politics have uttered forthright and dismissive words about Trump as leader of the US. Still, the ambassador\u2019s remarks about Connolly were far from diplomatic nicety. <\/p>\n \u201cI wish she was pro-Ireland at some point,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n That same day in the Sunday Independent, Walsh expressed surprise at the extent of demands for action from the Government to tackle housing and health problems: \u201cIn the United States, we do a lot of things differently.\u201d <\/p>\n He also hit out at \u201cshocking\u201d levels of business paperwork at EU level: \u201cWe don\u2019t have the regulations that you guys have here.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Ed](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/K2HEUQBJMRHDXL6EO6S43VSWXU.jpg\")
Ed Walsh is the great-great grandson of Co Clare emigrants. Photograph: Dan Dennison <\/p>\n![\"Ed](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/HMGDJT5MDJFTLI3AGERAJWU3I4.jpg\")
Ed Walsh on stage with his wife Lynn. Photograph: Dan Dennison <\/p>\n![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/YSKWRSXQCBGS5BRZYWCMR7XOJE.jpg\")
President Catherine Connolly meeting US ambassador Ed Walsh at \u00c1ras an Uachtar\u00e1in. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill <\/p>\n