Donald Trump blasted as ‘liar’ by former Irish president Mary Robinson

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In conversation with The Mirror’s Anne-Marie Tomchak the ex-Irish President Mary Robinson explains why Donald Trump is telling ‘lies’ in order to justify his decisions to ‘drill baby drill’

The former Irish president Mary Robinson has blasted US president Donald Trump as “a liar” over his energy policy and urged people, especially women, to stand up for climate action.

Her remarks come in the wake of Trump’s executive order to exit the Paris Climate Accord and to drill baby drill’ because of what Trump claims is an impending energy emergency in the United States.

“There is no emergency in the United States,” said Mary Robinson. “The US has produced more crude oil in the last six years than any other country in the world. It’s lies, lies amplified by social media.”

She said that although times are difficult right now, there is still resistance. “Already, judges have stopped a lot of what is being proposed (by Trump). The courts are being used. But, also, if you take the example of pulling out of the Paris Agreement, that happened the last time (when Trump became president in 2017). And a whole lot of states, cities, entrepreneurs, philanthropists and business people in the US stepped up and are still stepping up.” Robinson said.

“So on one level you have a dystopian picture but at another level you’ve got the resistance to that. I’m not saying it’s an easy time. It’s not. But I am saying there will always be people who will stand up,” she said.

Robinson, 80, made the remarks in conversation with the Mirror following a screening of a documentary about her life during the St Bridget’s Film Festival 2025, which recognises the achievements of women.

The film “Mrs Robinson” charts her rise as a young lawyer fighting for equality in the Republic of Ireland to becoming Ireland’s first female president, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Chair of The Elders which was set up by former president of South Africa Nelson Mandela in 2007.

When asked about Trump and his attacks on DEI, Robinson said: “Policies that actually help are being undermined. Diversity, equity and inclusion are good for business. And business leaders have been standing up. I’m part of a team of leaders who have been going public about it. We want to continue the policies that are good.”

Mary Robinson also took aim at billionaire tech bosses like Elon Musk for allowing the spread of misinformation. “We’ve got to recognise when lies are being promoted by algorithms and social media.”

And she has quite a different view to Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg who recently proclaimed that companies need more “masculine energy”. Robinson believes that “feminine leadership” (which, she says, should include as many men as possible) is the answer to a better world.

“We don’t have enough women in leadership, which is one of the problems. The climate and nature crisis is a human problem that’s going to need different forms of leadership. We need to incentivise money going into renewables. But we also need women at all levels to unite in action for a climate safe world.”

Robinson is now advocating for climate justice through her latest venture, Project Dandelion. It’s a women led global campaign which spreads a message of collective action, unity and hope.

“Hope is action,” says Robinson when asked about tackling a problem as big as climate justice. “Hope is taking the steps you can take and we all can take steps. Every step matters”.

Find out more about Project Dandelion by visiting https://www.projectdandelion.com/ Video courtesy of David Hennessy, The Irish World