Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald and Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill have indicated that they will not visit the White House to meet with US President Donald Trump next month, reports RTE.
The two leaders reaffirmed their decision not to come to Washington for St. Patrick’s Day festivities, citing his words and stance on Gaza.
Ms McDonald stated that her choice not to travel is a “principled stance”, reports RTE.
Senior Sinn Féin officials often go to the United States every year around the same time as the Taoiseach is regularly invited to meet with the US president for St Patrick’s Day celebrations.
Ms McDonald told reporters at a press conference in Dublin that the decision was a protest against Mr Trump’s Gaza policy.
“I followed with growing concern what’s happening on the ground in Gaza and the West Bank, and like many other Irish people, have listened in horror to calls from the President of the United States for the mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from their homes and the permanent seizure of Palestinian lands,” she said, reports RTE.
Ms McDonald added: “There is also an onus on us to speak honestly and to act when we believe a US administration is wrong, catastrophically so in the case of Palestine,” reports RTE.
The Dublin Central TD stated that she “thought deeply about this issue in recent days and listened to many voices inside and outside” the party.
“I’ve made the decision not to attend the event in the White House this year as a principled stance against the call for the mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza, something which I believe demands serious dissent and objection,” reports RTE.
The Sinn Féin move comes after the SDLP made a similar declaration in recent weeks, and it reflects appeals from a number of other Dáil opposition parties.
It will also put tremendous pressure on Taoiseach Micheál Martin, who is still scheduled to meet with the US president at the White House on St. Patrick’s Day but has yet to get an official invitation, reports RTE.
Ms McDonald said the Taoiseach should still travel, even though Sinn Féin wants him to boycott a White House visit.
She said that because he is the Taoiseach, he should go to the US president and voice Ireland’s concerns.
Meanwhile, Ms O’Neill said: “The decision not to travel to the White House has not been taken lightly, but it is taken, conscious of the responsibility each of us as individuals have to call out injustice. I have travelled to the US on many occasions to seek support for peace and for our economy in the face of Brexit. I have met with senior figures on Capitol Hill. I have met with successive US presidents. I have always spoken honestly and passionately and I will always do so. And I will continue to engage with the US – politically and economically. But people look to us as leaders,” reports RTE.
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