FIRST MINISTER OF Northern Ireland Michelle O’Neill has defended her decision not to travel to Washington DC for St. Patrick’s Day despite insisting that the Taoiseach should still go. 

This morning, O’Neill and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald announced they would not participate in any White House events for St Patrick’s Day this year.

Mary Lou McDonald will not travel to the US for the occasion at all this year in a significant departure from tradition for the Sinn Féin leader.

The pair said that their decision has been taken as a “principled stance against the threat of mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza”.

“The decision to not travel to the White House has not been taken lightly, but it is taken very conscious of the responsibility that each of us have as individuals to call out injustice when we see it,” O’Neill said. 

Both O’Neill and McDonald insisted that Taoiseach Micheál Martin should still go, when the invitation arrives, and use the opportunity of meeting US President Donald Trump to urge him “not to equivocate” on the issue of Gaza.  

Asked today to elaborate on why they believe Martin should go as Taoiseach but Michelle O’Neill, as First Minister of Northern Ireland, should not, O’Neill said the Taoiseach is “uniquely placed” to deliver Ireland’s message and that he has an opportunity the First Minister does not.

“We are doing what we can do,” Mary Lou McDonald says, adding that this is a moment of “existential threat to the Palestinian people”.

She says however, that the Taoiseach “absolutely” should go as he has a “unique opportunity” to engage with the US.

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She made the point that the Taoiseach gets a sit down with the US President, whereas as First Minister the direct face-time with Trump is much more fleeting. In previous years it has only been a few minutes at larger events. 

“He will have an opportunity to sit down with the President of the United States and to make his views known. So I think that it is right that the Taoiseach goes and that he doesn’t miss that opportunity.

“But this is Ireland’s day. This is about the US and Ireland…The distinct difference as First Minister and the Taoiseach can easily be drawn on that occasion.”

McDonald asked that Sinn Féin’s “friends in the United States” would try to understand the position the party is taking and to respect it.

“It is made in absolute good faith and absolute conviction and a real sense of how things could deteriorate even more in the Middle East, and we cannot, in good conscience, stand by and watch that,” she said. 

She later added: “The clear distinction [between Sinn Féin and the Taoiseach participating in White House events] is that these events are, in essence, bilateral meetings between the Taoiseach and the American President of the day.

“The Taoiseach is the only person who has the opportunity of direct, meaningful dialogue with the President on these occasions.”

Asked whether she had informed Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, Emma Little-Pengelly of her decision, O’Neill said she had. 

“It is absolutely Emma’s call in terms of what she may decide to do,” she said when asked if Little-Pengally will still attend. 

The pair said a small Sinn Féin delegation will still travel to the US in March.

This includes Stormont minister for the economy Caoimhe Archibald who will have a trade visit to New York and Boston, and Sinn Féin senator Conor Murphy who is travelling to New York.