Trump ‘had not heard’ about Washington boycott by some NI parties

By David Young, PA, in Washington DC

US President Donald Trump said he had not heard that some Northern Ireland political parties had decided to boycott St Patrick’s Day celebrations in Washington DC over his administration’s stance on Gaza.

Sinn Féin, the SDLP and Alliance had ruled out attending such events.

Asked about the boycotts while meeting Taoiseach Micheál Martin in the Oval Office, Mr Trump told reporters: “I haven’t heard that, I really haven’t heard that.”

Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill travelled to Carolina in the US this week for a business event.

However, she returned home rather than attend the Washington events as part of Sinn Féin’s protest against Mr Trump’s threat of mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza.

Deputy First Minister, Emma Little-Pengelly of the DUP, is in Washington.

Mr Trump spoke with Ms Little-Pengelly, DUP Communities Minister Gordon Lyons and Stormont Speaker Edwin Poots at a lunch in Capitol Hill which followed his meeting with the Taoiseach.

Last year, Ms O’Neill and Ms Little-Pengelly were lauded in the US capital as they travelled together to attend St Patrick’s Day events only weeks after the powersharing institutions at Stormont were restored.

Alliance Party leader Naomi Long had also previously confirmed she would not be making the trip this year.

She said her party would be represented in the US, but she would not be asking any of her party to travel to the White House, accusing the US president of ignoring international law.

Ms Long had also predicted in advance that Mr Trump would be unlikely to notice the absence of Northern Ireland politicians.

SDLP leader Claire Hanna was the first to announce that her party would boycott the Washington St Patrick’s events in protest at US policies on Gaza.