'I think his speech was conciliatory though there were clearly conflicts,' Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee said in reaction to US secretary of state Marco Rubio's speech at the Munich Security Conference. McEntee was upbeat after US secretary of State Rubio’s address, describing Europe as an essential partner for the US. However, Rubio said Europe must follow the Trump administration’s shifts on security, economics and migration policy – and abandon its “climate cult”. “I think his speech was conciliatory, though there were clearly conflicts still there,” she said. On the postwar situation in Israel, McEntee described as “appalling that Israel was not allowing enough humanitarian aid into the West Bank”.

Source: The Irish Times February 14, 2026 21:08 UTC