After Sinn Féin announced that they will not be visiting the US on St Patrick’s Day to protest President Donald Trump’s foreign policy, Taoiseach Micheál Martin accused the party of “doing what it always does” and getting involved in politics, reports Breaking News.
Speaking in Cork, Mr. Martin emphasised the need of maintaining close relations with the United States.
“First of all, Sinn Féin does what it always does – it engages in politics. I have a responsibility to the country. Indeed, earlier this week we had a meeting with our European colleagues convened by President Macron with Canada, with Norway and with Iceland. The very clear message there was the need – not only to continue with – but to double-down on engagement with the US administration both politically and with the President,” reports Breaking News.
“I think that is very important because, first of all, the economic relationship between Europe and the US – and between Ireland and the US – is an extremely important one. It is a very robust one. Many Irish companies create thousands of jobs in the US. Many US companies create thousands of jobs in Ireland – it is a two-way street but it is a very significant relationship,” reports Breaking News.
Additionally, Mr. Martin discussed his responsibility “to protect the livelihoods of many, many people” in this nation.
“And engage and discuss and profile the level of Irish investment in the US – companies like Ryanair who buy very significantly from Boeing, the Kerry Group, Smurfit-Westrock, Glanbia to name just a few though there are many, many other small-to-medium sized companies which have established operations in the US. From an Irish perspective, open and free trade is the optimum objective because it helps us to grow our economy – we are a small, open economy,” reports Breaking News.
He went on to say that discussing Ukraine with the US was crucial.
“Then in terms of Ukraine – the meeting we had this week – it was in that context that the need for engagement with the US was underlined. It was a productive meeting yesterday with President (Volodymyr) Zelensky and the US envoy Keith Kellogg – and there will be further engagement between the EU leaders and the US in respect of the unfolding situation in Ukraine,” reports Breaking News.
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