WHEN Micheál Martin gives Donald Trump a bowl of shamrock around St Patrick’s Day, should he mention the war?

Indeed, should he even bring shamrock, or maybe just stay at home?

Trump loves toadying and fawning from his visitors, so a serving of shamrock, with a bit of “the top of the morning to you” and a sickening dose of plámás (fake flattery), should see the taoiseach safely through his visit.

All very pragmatic, but should Micheál opt instead for principle, since many legal experts believe that Trump’s Iran war is illegal?

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He did not have approval for the war from the United Nations or Congress and the US was not under imminent threat from Iran.

Trump himself claimed to have obliterated Iran’s nuclear capability following US bombing raids there last June, so where was the threat?

Among the buildings hit in the first bombing raids was a primary school where more than 160 people were reported killed, mostly girls aged between 7 and 12.

The media network Al Jazeera reports that they were mainly the children of servicemen in the Iranian navy.

If that was a war crime (and it is hard to see how it was not), should Micheál be fawning over Trump?

© The Irish News