US Ambassador faces backlash after visit to Conor McGregor-owned Dublin pub

Social media posts uploaded at the weekend show Ambassador Edward Walsh at the Black Forge Inn in Crumlin, south Dublin, dressed in a US soccer jersey, posing with bar manager Liam Flynn and holding McGregor’s UFC championship-winning belt.

But the visit has been roundly condemned by advocates who said it sent a ‘very negative message to survivors’ of sexual violence.

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.

Conor McGregor leaving Dublin courts in 2024.

The Dublin Rape Crisis Center said Ambassador Walsh should have stayed away from the venue and that his visit normalized and trivialized sexual violence. Chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Center (DRCC), Rachel Morrogh, said it would add fuel to protests already planned for President Donald Trump’s visit to Ireland in September.

Ms Morrogh told Extra.ie: "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 of rape.

Nikita Hand speaking outside court in Dublin in 2024.

"We in Dublin Rape Crisis Centre can see the impact every day of this kind of normalizing and trivializing 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 American public.

Nikita Hand shared the DRCC’s story of its anger at Mr Walsh on her own Instagram account.

US Ambassador Edward Walsh.

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 occurred a week earlier that year.

The Dubliner used the opportunity to criticize the Irish Government and its immigration policies in front of the US media. The Black Forge Inn, in Crumlin, posted pictures on Facebook 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, undeterred by the furor over President Trump’s interference in the World Cup by contacting FIFA to overturn American striker Folarin Balogun’s red card ban for their tie against Belgium.

The USA subsequently crashed out of the World Cup in a heavy 4-1 defeat by the Belgians. In 2024, a High Court jury found McGregor liable for the sexual assault of Ms Hand in 2018 at a Dublin hotel.

People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger said yesterday 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. 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.

"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 – Trump and McGregor have both been found liable for rape.

Conor McGregor and his famiy and Elon Musk at the White House with Donald Trump in the Oval Office amid the St. Patrick's Day celebrations in 2025.

"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."

McGregor is scheduled to return to the UFC octagon on Saturday to fight Max Holloway at UFC 329 in Las Vegas, marking his first fight in five years after a broken leg in 2021 and a backdated ban for missed drug tests.

He appeared last month on Jimmy Fallon’s "The Tonight Show" in America, prompting a slew of criticism. Pop rock singer Pink posted an image of McGregor on the set of the show, alongside a picture of Nikita emerging from her civil trial in 2024, on her social media. She wrote: "You ask why women don’t report rape? They do. But men still get platforms and are treated like celebrities."

Conor McGregor at the White House, 2025.

Actress Christina Ricci also condemned the decision to give McGregor such a huge platform. She wrote in a post: "Conor McGregor raped a woman so brutally that the EMT who saw her commented on the severity of her bruising. She also had to have the tampon she was using when he raped her surgically removed, as it had been shoved so far inside her.

"Why the absolute f*** is this piece of human garbage being given a platform on Jimmy Fallon’s show? Shame on you, Jimmy."

The US embassy, the Black Forge Inn and Ms Hand were contacted for comment.

* This article was originally published on Extra.ie.