Editorial: Ireland should be challenged in its claim to be a partner of America

​The Taoiseach Micheal Martin will visit Texas in the coming days before his St Patrick’s Day visit to the White House.

Any unionists who are hoping that the Trump administration will treat Ireland coolly on account of its foreign policy or its status as a form of tax haven are likely to be disappointed.

President Trump gushed about his admiration for Irish Americans, and his pleasure that they had voted for him, when presented recently with a message of good relations by them.

Mr Martin says that the US remains an "indispensable partner at a time of great peril in the world”.

It might seem petty to say that this statement really ought to be challenged, but then Mr Martin is reported to be planning to discuss the situation in the Middle East and Northern Ireland. And the Irish Republic heavily lobbied American politicians about NI before, which was central to us getting a border in the Irish Sea between the province and the rest of the UK.

It is also, disgracefully, suing the UK over its handling of the fallout from the terrorism of the Troubles, in which the IRA used the Republic as a safe haven.

So it isn’t remotely petty to be challenging this rhetoric from Mr Martin – it is essential.

In what respect is Ireland a partner at this time of massive peril? It has not merely in effect agreed with the International Criminal Court that Hamas and Israel are equivalents, it has been pushing with South Africa for that approach.

And it has the audacity to sue a UK that allows it to freeload for its defence.

Far from being an “indispensable partner” Ireland is a manifestation of the sort of failure to pay for European defence that Mr Trump rightly deplores. And this needs to be flagged up to him so that St Patrick’s Day is not just a sentimental display that suggests all is well between Ireland and the US.