Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and First Minister Michelle O'Neill have announced that they will boycott the White House St. Patrick's Day celebrations this year.
The party leadership typically join the annual festivities in Washington DC, including the Shamrock Ceremony, but President Donald Trump's recent comments on the Middle East had cast uncertainty over their attendance due to Sinn Féin's stance on Gaza.
Speaking at a press conference in Dublin this morning, Mary Lou McDonald said she will not attend an event at the White House around St Patrick’s Day over “a principled stance against the threat of mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza”.
First Minister Michelle O’Neill said:“I have taken the decision as First Minister not to attend events at the White House this year.
“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. We are all heartbroken as we witness the suffering of the Palestinian people and the recent comments of the US President around the mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza, something I cannot ignore.
“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.
"I am fully aware of the positive impact the US can have because we have experienced it in Ireland, north and south and it has had a transformational impact. And I will continue to engage with the US – politically and economically.
“But people look to us as leaders. In the future, when our children and grandchildren ask me what I did while the Palestinian people endured unimaginable suffering, I can say I stood firmly on the side of humanity.”
Earlier this month, SDLP leader Claire Hanna announced that her party would not be attending the events in the US for the second consecutive year.
On Monday, deputy First Minister Emma Little Pengelly revealed that neither she nor First Minister Michelle O'Neill had received an invite to the White House but that they would not be following the SDLP by opting to boycott the festivities if an invite arrived.
Responding to the announcement, People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll said: "I welcome Sinn Féin's u-turn, agreeing not to attend this year's St Patrick's day events in the White House.
"It is the very least they can do in light of the ongoing slaughter of Palestinians, and Trump's brazen advocacy of mechanised ethnic cleansing on the Gaza strip."
"Today is a victory for Palestinian solidarity activists up and down this country. Sinn Féin took far too long to come to this conclusion, sowing unnecessary division in the Irish-Palestine solidarity movement in the process."
"The hour is late, and the situation facing ordinary Palestinians increasingly desperate."
"Now is the time to redouble our effort to make Ireland the world leader in international solidarity with Palestine."
Back in January, Mary Lou McDonald remarked, "We are conscious of what is happening in the Middle East. We are conscious that the United States of America has to be part of the solution and can continue to be part of the problem in arming Israel."
She further stated, regarding the party's plans for the St Patrick's Day visit to Washington, "we will see how things unfold".
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