By Amanda Ferguson
DUBLIN (Reuters) – Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill said on Friday she would not attend St Patrick’s Day events at the White House in protest over President Donald Trump’s position on Gaza.
Political leaders from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland usually travel to the United States for the annual celebration of Irish culture on March 17.
“We are all heartbroken as we witness the suffering of the Palestinian people and the recent comments of the U.S. President around the mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza, something I cannot ignore”, O’Neill said at a press conference in Dublin alongside the leader of her Sinn Fein party, Mary Lou McDonald.
“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.”
Trump announced a plan on February 4 for the U.S. to take control of Gaza and resettle Palestinians living there, upending decades of U.S. diplomacy focused on a two-state solution.
Ireland is sending Prime Minister Micheal Martin to the White House celebrations. Martin said earlier this month he would raise “a broad range of issues” with the U.S. president.
Mostly U.S.-owned foreign multinationals employ about 11% of Irish workers and the funding of public services is hugely reliant on the corporate tax they pay. Just three big U.S. companies account for about one in every eight euros of total tax collected in Ireland.
(Writing by Graham Fahy; Editing by Ros Russell)
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