Leo Varadkar: Trump's US Ambassador posing in Conor McGregor's pub is shocking - there are two simple things he should do to NOW for disgraced MMA fighter's victim Nikita Hand

Published: 00:01, 11 July 2026 | Updated: 00:01, 11 July 2026 Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has called on the US Ambassador to Ireland, Ed Walsh, to apologise for posing for pictures in a pub owned by disgraced MMA fighter Conor McGregor.  In a cutting rebuke of the Ambassador, Mr Varadkar accused Mr Walsh of ‘damaging US-Irish relations’ and urged him to invite McGregor’s victim Nikita Hand to his Phoenix Park residence in Dublin. Speaking yesterday on The Path to Power podcast, hosted by Matt Cooper, Mr Varadkar said he was ‘shocked’ to see the report on the front page of the Irish Daily Mail on Thursday with pictures of Mr Walsh in The Black Forge Inn in Crumlin. ‘I just recoiled. And you know, I’m not easily shocked. I think the Rape Crisis Centre really spoke for me, and I think it spoke for a lot of people in the country… What messages does this send out to women?  'What messages does it send out to victims of rape and sexual assault? And I think it was a big, big mistake on his part,’ he said. Mr Varadkar called on Mr Walsh to ‘apologise’ for the incident and ‘admit that this was an error of judgement’ and that he ‘should not have attended that establishment and posed for photographs and behaved the way he did’. US Ambassador to Ireland Ed Walsh, wearing a US football jersey, with pub manager Liam Flynn at McGregor's Black Forge Inn in a picture posted to the pub's social media  Last year, McGregor was found liable for the sexual assault of Nikita Hand, who was awarded €250,000 in damages by a civil jury after it found he had raped her in a Dublin hotel in December 2018.  Mr Varadkar said he believes Mr Walsh should ‘try to make recompense’ by inviting Ms Hand to the Ambassador’s Residence, Deerfield, in the Phoenix Park to ‘undo’ some of the damage he has caused. ‘I’m not sure if she’d go or not, but he should invite Nikita Hand to Deerfield. She should be invited to the residence, and he should hear from her what happened.  'And I think in that way he’ll be able to undo the damage that he has done,’ he said. The former Taoiseach said that the role of the Ambassador is to ‘represent the US in Ireland, to improve relations between the US and Ireland, and he’s done harm’. In a further stinging rebuke of the ambassador, Mr Varadkar accused him of doing a ‘disservice’ to US President Donald Trump who appointed him to the role in June last year.  The president is planning to visit Ireland when his Trump Doonbeg International Golf course hosts the Irish Open in September. ‘I think in his actions he’s done President Trump a disservice. This will increase the likelihood of protests and it’ll increase the likelihood that there’ll be a focus on sexual violence and mistreatment of women for lots of reasons. So if he cares about his country and cares about his boss, he’ll put this right,’ Mr Varadkar said. The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre told the Mail this week that Ambassador Walsh should have stayed away from the venue and that his visit normalised and trivialised sexual violence.  Chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre Rachel Morrogh said it would add fuel to protests planned for President Donald Trump’s visit to Ireland in September. ‘It was hugely disappointing to learn that the United States Government’s official representative in Ireland, Ambassador Ed Walsh, paid a visit to an establishment owned by a person who has been found civilly liable for rape,’ Ms Morrogh said. ‘We in Dublin Rape Crisis Centre can see the impact every day of this kind of normalising and trivialising of sexual violence on the people we support.  'It sends a very negative message to survivors on behalf of the US government. Unfortunately, it is also consistent with what we have seen from the White House in recent years.’ She continued: ‘Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and no doubt many others will be protesting against this and other ways that the US President has downplayed the impact of sexual violence at home and abroad when he visits Ireland this September.’ She said the ambassador’s visit could be seen as a further attempt to rehabilitate McGregor in the eyes of the US public. Ms Hand shared the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre’s story of its anger at Mr Walsh on her own Instagram account. Nikita Hand, who took McGregor to court, shared the Rape Crisis Centre's story online The Mail asked the Department of the Taoiseach for its view on Mr Walsh’s attendance at the pub earlier this week but received no response. McGregor has strong ties to the Trump White House, making a surprise appearance there on St Patrick’s Day last year, in a slot traditionally reserved for the Taoiseach, whose visit happened a week earlier that year. The Dubliner used the opportunity to criticise the Irish Government and its immigration policies in front of the US media. The facebook account of the Black Forge Inn, in Crumlin, posted pictures on Sunday of Mr Walsh posing at the pub, with the caption: ‘Welcome back to the Black Forge Inn Ambassador US.’ He was welcomed by pub manager Liam Flynn, with a red carpet laid out on the pavement leading into the bar.  Inside the pub, he posed with one of McGregor’s UFC belts strapped over his shoulder. The ambassador then donned a US football team shirt. Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger told the Mail this week that she was ‘shocked’ by the ambassador’s visit to the Black Forge. ‘This is somebody who has been found liable in a civil case for rape of Nikita Hand, and who has gone into complete disrepute in Ireland," she said.  'But they seem to be determined to salvage him in some quarters of the US administration. On the one hand it’s shocking that an ambassador would promote the business of a man found liable for rape,’ she added.. ‘On the other, it’s entirely in line with the Trump regime attitude to predators and abusers. Don’t forget Trump hosted McGregor on our national holiday last year. ‘In a week where two women were victims of femicide in Ireland, and when calls to rape crisis services were at a record high, this visit by the ambassador underlines a tolerance for violence against women that is extremely concerning,’ she said. ‘Obviously Trump inviting him on St Patrick’s Day last year, and now the US Ambassador, the representative of the US government in this country, visiting his pub, that’s a real insult to women, and it’s a real insult to survivors of sexual violence.’ The Mail asked the US Embassy if the ambassador would apologise and accept Mr Varadkar’s criticism that he has ‘done harm’ to Irish-US relations by attending the pub. We also asked if the ambassador would be inviting Ms Hand to his residence. A spokesman for Mr Walsh said yesterday: ‘We won’t be commenting.’ Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.