SINN FÉIN WILL not be attending any St Patrick’s Day events in the White House this year, party leader Mary Lou McDonald has announced. 

She said the party was making the move “as a principled stance against the threat of mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza”.

However she said she “absolutely believes” Taoiseach Micheál Martin should travel to Washington and to the White House, urging him “not to equivocate” on the issue of Gaza.  

In comments earlier this month, US President Donald Trump proposed an American takeover of Gaza while also suggesting a permanent displacement of Palestinians from the enclave.

McDonald said that the Irish people had watched Trump’s pronouncements on his plans for the region unfold “with horror”. 

Sinn Féin faced calls to withdraw from White House events last year, and the SDLP have already confirmed they will boycott the engagements for the second year in a row. 

Speaking in Washington last March, McDonald defended her decision to travel for the Joe Biden-hosted St Patrick’s events, saying she couldn’t refuse the “unparalleled access” on offer. 

She said it was her “responsibility and duty” to speak to anyone she can “in a bid to stop” the spiralling death toll in Gaza. 

McDonald and party deputy leader Michelle O’Neill, the Northern Ireland First Minister, hosted a press conference in Dublin this morning. 

McDonald confirmed that neither she nor O’Neill would travel to the US this year around St Patrick’s Day. However, some party representatives are still due to attend events in New York.  

The party enjoys a large amount of support from the Irish-American population across the US and usually stages fundraising events in the two east coast cities and in other areas with large Irish-American communities. 

While no official White House invitation has yet been issued or accepted by any Irish party, Taoiseach Micheál Martin is expected to attend the usual shamrock ceremony at the White House alongside Trump in the lead up to St Patrick’s Day. 

He has engagements in Texas and Washington throughout the week of 10 March and is also expected to attend the US House speaker’s lunch, the Ireland Funds dinner and other traditional Irish events while in DC. 

McDonald says the Taoiseach should go to the White House.

However, she says he must be ‘clear and frank’ in his conversations with Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/UEzrC10NoQ

— Christina Finn (@christinafinn8) February 21, 2025

Asked about Sinn Féin’s decision, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe told RTÉ’s Claire Byrne this morning that it was “one for them to explain and defend”.

“I believe the appropriate decision for the government of Ireland is to continue to engage with President Trump and with future presidents of the United States of America,” he added. 

Donohoe said the US was an important “contributor and sponsor” of “the development we want to see in Northern Ireland”.

He said it would be up to Sinn Féin “to reconcile wanting to see that happen with the decision they are making”. 

Asked whether Taoiseach Micheál Martin should still meet Trump in light of the US President’s recent comments about Gaza and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Donohoe said it was more important than ever for the Taoiseach to do so.

“If there was ever a time for dialogue and engagement, if there was ever a time for trying to reach across divides, it’s now.”

Speaking at the Dublin press conference McDonald said she would go to the White House if she was Taoiseach. 

Asked whether, due to her role as First Minister, she should attend even if McDonald didn’t, Michelle O’Neill said there was a “distinct difference” between her position and that of Taoiseach and that St Patrick’s Day was a day for Ireland. 

Asked whether Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly should attend, O’Neill said it was the DUP politician’s “own call”.