St Patrick’s Day move over Trump policy a gamble by Sinn Féin

by


Enda McClafferty

BBC News NI political editor

Reuters Donald Trump speaks at a podium. He has grey hair and is looking upwards to his left and is wearing a blue suit and white shirtReuters

Donald Trump attacked Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier this week and has threatened to remove Palestinians from Gaza

Boycotting the St Patrick’s Day celebrations in the White House is a big call by Sinn Féin.

Such a snub risks damaging long-standing relationships with key political figures in the US.

It could also play badly with the wider Irish diaspora, many of whom are big supporters of Donald Trump.

But it is a gamble Sinn Féin’s leadership are prepared to take.

Getty Images The fountain in front of the White House is turned green with dye. The White House a large columned building is in the backgroundGetty Images

It is custom for Northern Ireland’s first and deputy first ministers to travel to the White House each year for St Patrick’s Day

Politically it will feel like the right thing to do given President Trump’s previous threat to remove Palestinians from Gaza and attack on Ukraine this week.

At the start of the month, Trump put forward a drastic shift in American policy towards the Middle East saying the US will take over the Gaza Strip and turn it into the Riviera of the region.

A wave of international criticism met the comments – including from France, Germany and the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who has warned the US against ethnic cleansing in Gaza.

Earlier this week, he accused Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky of being a “dictator” who “started the war “with Russia.

For many it was a step too far, even for those within the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) who had fully supported the new Trump administration.

But governments had to walk a thin line by criticising Trump’s remarks while not damaging relations with the US.

Trump’s attacks came after Zelensky, reacting to US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia from which Kyiv was excluded, said the US president was “living in a disinformation space” governed by Moscow.

Oppositions parties like Sinn Féin had no such constraints.

PA Media Michelle O'Neill has blond hair tied in a ponytail and is wearing a black suit jacket and patterned blouse. Mary Lou McDonald has short dark hair and is talking while wearing a black suit jacketPA Media

Both Michelle O’Neill and Mary Lou McDonald are boycotting St Patrick’s Day celebrations at the White House

Eight Irish ministers are travelling to the US next month including Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Micheál Martin.

It will feel like an easy hit for Sinn Féin given the wider public outrage against President Trump.

But the decision by Northern Ireland’s first minister to announce her Washington boycott in Dublin will not be lost on her unionist political opponents.

For them this will feel like a political strategy born in Dublin and not Belfast.

The focus will now fall on Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly who was keen to travel to Washington.

Though it is a joint office, she could still travel to the US as long as the move is not vetoed by the first minister which seems unlikely.

If that happens Northern Ireland will be represented in the White House but not by the joint ministers.


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