Simon Harris has voiced support for the Taoiseach’s planned meeting with US President Donald Trump, saying that engagement is “more important than ever”.
The Tánaiste also said political leaders must “call out racism in all its forms” when questioned about a White House video depicting former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes, reports Breaking News.
On Friday, Micheál Martin confirmed he will travel to the White House for St Patrick’s Day.
Mr Martin said Mr Trump views the annual visit as an opportunity “to celebrate the special relationship between our two countries”, reports Breaking News.
Last year, there were calls for the Taoiseach to cancel the visit as Mr Trump began his second term in office.
The leaders of Sinn Féin, the main opposition party, chose not to attend the White House due to the US administration’s stance on Gaza, reports Breaking News.
Those calls have intensified following the US’s withdrawn threat to take over Greenland and Mr Trump’s crackdown on immigration in Minneapolis and other parts of the country.
Asked at a Fine Gael Disability Network Conference in Galway whether he would meet Mr Trump if he were taoiseach, Mr Harris said he would, adding: “It’s really important that you’re engaged”, reports Breaking News.
“It’s really easy to turn up when everyone’s getting along great, and everyone agrees on absolutely everything,” reports Breaking News.
“It’s harder to turn up when there are legitimate areas of policy difference, but it’s actually more important than ever to do that,” he said, reports Breaking News.
“The relationship between our two countries is enduring. It’s much deeper than who holds the office of taoiseach or president of the United States,” reports Breaking News.
“There’s about 10 per cent people in the US who claim Irish links and descendancy and there are about 200,000 people who vote, who work in the United States in companies that are Irish-owned, about 800 companies, many of those would have voted for President Trump. They get out of bed this morning, they go to work in Irish-owned companies, and here in Ireland, obviously there are hundreds of companies providing hundreds of thousands of jobs too. So it’s an economic relationship, it’s a cultural relationship, it’s a historical relationship. It was kind of very interesting, I didn’t hear much commentary as to whether the Taoiseach should or shouldn’t have gone to China and of course, he should have. He should go to the United States. We should always engage. We should always engage, and we engage respectfully, and we engage being true to our values,” reports Breaking News.
Mr Trump’s administration faced criticism this week after posting a racist video on social media portraying the Obamas as primates in a jungle, which was later deleted.
The post, shared late on Thursday, was attributed to a staff member after widespread condemnation from civil rights figures and senior Republican senators over its depiction of the first Black US president and first lady, reports Breaking News.
In an unusual acknowledgement of error by the White House, the video was removed just hours after press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed criticism as “fake outrage”.
Mr Harris said he “absolutely deplores racism in all its forms” and referenced reports that Fine Gael councillor Yemi Adenuga was racially abused last week, reports Breaking News.
The Nigerian-Irish councillor from Navan said a man spat at her and told her to “go back where she came from”.
“Racism is sickening, it’s a scourge in our society, we should always condemn all forms of racism,” Mr Harris said, reports Breaking News.
“President Obama and Michelle Obama served their country with distinction, and any form of racism should absolutely completely initially be condemned as sickening,” reports Breaking News.
“My understanding is that that video was quite rightfully deleted,” reports Breaking News.
“And can I say, here in Ireland, indeed, I met Councillor Yemi Adenuga, one of our own councillors from Navan this week, who experienced vicious racism in her own community,” reports Breaking News.
He said: “So no country is immune from racism and there is an absolute responsibility on all of us in leadership positions and all of us in our lives, whatever role we play, to call out racism in all its forms,” reports Breaking News.
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