Cork councillors reject calls for boycott of St Patrick's Day White House visit in support of Gaza

Council meeting interrupted by pro-Palestinian supporters demanding Taoiseach Leo Varadkar cancel his meeting with President Joe Biden

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar presenting US president Joe Biden with a bowl of shamrock at the White House last year.

Cork’s city councillors have rejected calls for an Irish political boycott of the traditional St Patrick’s Day White House visit after protestors disrupted their council meeting with shouts of “no shamrock for genocide Joe”.

They were almost an hour into the March meeting of council on Monday night when a group of about 20 people who had been sitting in the public galleries interrupted the meeting, demanding Irish politicians cancel their March 17 White House visit.