Getting ready for Trump

Sir, –The tone of your editorial is quite unwarranted in which you refer to Donald Trump as an "unwanted guest" ("The Irish Times view on Trump's Irish visit: an unwanted guest", May 23rd).

A formal invitation was extended by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to Mr Trump in 2018.

Of course, Mr Trump’s policies may differ from Ireland’s in relation to the EU, free trade and climate change; however, this does not give us the moral high ground to treat him as an unwanted guest. America has extended huge support to Ireland in the past 40 years by way of foreign direct investment, the peace process, and providing an open-door policy for Irish politicians visiting Washington. We should not take such support for granted. A more useful tone would be to see the visit as an opportunity to show him our fantastic countryside, our talented workforce, and the healthy state of our economy. – Yours, etc,

RICHARD COFFEY,

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Terenure,

Dublin 6W.

Sir, – Perhaps in the scheduled meeting room at Shannon Airport a sign could display an appropriate Irish proverb: “Better to be a man of character than a man of means”. – Yours, etc,

DAN DONOVAN,

Dungarvan,

Co Waterford.