Enda Kenny must shun ‘white supremacist’, says ex governor

A former US presidential election candidate has set up a petition calling on Taoiseach Enda Kenny to boycott the traditional White House St Patrick’s Day meeting with Donald Trump.

Former Maryland governor and Irish-American Democrat Martin O’Malley, who competed with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders for the 2016 Democrat nomination, made the demand as he said “now is not the time to be giving bowls of shamrock to white supremacists with Irish surnames”.

As part of the annual St Patrick’s Day trade mission to the US, Mr Kenny will meet US president Donald Trump at the White House on March 16.