The Government is planning a diplomatic blitz of the United States for St Patrick's Day.

Tánaiste Simon Harris will bring a memo to Cabinet this morning outlining plans to send Ministers to 40 locations across the world in March.

The Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Simon Harris and no less than eight other Ministers will all travel to the United States next month for St Patrick's Day.

The diplomatic offensive has been set up in response to a turbulent first few weeks of Donald Trump's second Presidency.

Much of the plan will focus on meetings with political leaders at federal and state level to build partnerships to protect Ireland's interests.

US President Donald Trump and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar meet for the annual St Patricks Day visit in the Oval Office, 12-03-2020. Image: White House Photo / Alamy Stock Photo

Trade in particular will be front and centre with Ministers to stress that Ireland is the seventh largest source of foreign direct investment into the United States - and that the partnership between the countries is worth a trillion euro economically a year.

But there will be heaps of outside pressure for the Government to also fight the corner for Palestine while meeting American officials.

Some are opposed to the trips happening at all - with the Social Democrats yesterday calling for neither Government or opposition politicians to visit Washington this St Patrick's Day.

Elsewhere, the Tánaiste will take part in a virtual - unscheduled - meeting of EU Trade Ministers today.

It has been called to discuss Donald Trump's recent announcements on tariffs, and how the EU should respond.

Simon Harris says his priority is to protect the interests of Irish and European business, and avoid an escalation of 'tit-for-tat' tariffs.

US President Joe Biden watches as Ireland's Prime Minister Micheál Martin speaks via teleconference during a virtual meeting on St. Patrick's Day, 17-03-2021. Image: Andrew Harnik/AP/Press Association Images

In the latest Donald Trump news – the American President said he may have to "look at the judges" who stand in the way of his attempts to reform the US Government.

The US President made the comment, while signing an executive order handing billionaire Elon Musk the power to slash the federal workforce.

A judge has blocked the X owner's "Department of Government Efficiency" from accessing Americans' personal data.

President Trump claimed political opponents are stopping his agenda.

A fountain on the South side of the White House is dyed green for St Patrick's Day in Washington, 16-03-2017. Image: Olivier Douliery/Consolidated News Photos/Olivier Douliery

“We found hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth [of corruption], much more than that in just a short period of time,” he said.

“We want to weed out the corruption and it seems hard to believe that a judge could say, ‘We don't want you to do that’.

“So maybe we have to look at the judges, because that's very serious.

“I think it's a very serious violation.”

Earlier this week, the Taoiseach described the tradition of Ministers travelling to Washington for St Patrick’s Day as a "time-honoured tradition which we appreciate".

The White House fountain is died green to celebrate St Patricks Day, 17-03-2022. Image: Adam Schultz/White House Photo