https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy4v722xgkko

The Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly has confirmed she will go to Washington DC next month for St Patrick's Day celebrations.

It comes after Sinn Féin said First Minister Michelle O'Neill would boycott the trip over US President Donald Trump's stance on the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Asked about her plans, Little-Pengelly said it was important to "maintain long and rewarding" relationships with the US.

"It's important we engage regardless of what our personal views may or may not be. That's what I'll be doing on St Patrick's Day," she added.

"I went to DC last year to meet President Biden, we'd have many policy areas where we disagree but when I go, it's engaging with the office of President."

When power-sharing is functioning, it is custom for the first and deputy first ministers to make the trip.

Traditionally politicians from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland take part in engagements in the US around St Patrick's Day.

This usually culminates in the taoiseach (Irish prime minister) presenting a bowl of shamrock to the US president in the Oval Office.

Last year, O'Neill and Little-Pengelly made the first joint St Patrick's Day visit by Executive Office ministers since 2016.

The Alliance Party and the SDLP have also said they will not attend the White House's St Patrick's Day celebrations.

by staghallows

5 comments

  2. Good for Emma, but even I’m laughing at the irony of the DUP celebrating Paddy’s Day.

  3. She’ll be wetting the seat on the plane the whole way there, a white anglo-saxon Protestant as president, with the support of the evangelicals in the US, sure the sea border will be gone by the twelth and Trump will have Starmer locked up and Farage in charge, so 3 cheers to the DUP! Shes a self serving Muppet, same as those who went last year whilst Israel was murdering innocent people. 

  4. A party that has wholeheartedly endorsed genocide and ethnic cleansing. She’ll fit right in.

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