Mary Lou McDonald 'hopes' Sinn Féin leadership visits Washington DC for St Patrick’s Day
Sinn Féin Leader Mary Lou McDonald TD. Picture: Collins
Mary Lou McDonald has said she 'hopes' Sinn Féin leadership will visit Washington DC for St Patrick’s Day this year following last year’s boycott.
However, in an interview with the , she did not rule out skipping the celebrations again, arguing that there needs to be an “international step change” to deal with the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
The Sinn Féin leader also vowed to continue to fight against the Government’s plans to change the Triple Lock, which refers to three hurdles — Government, Dáil, and UN — that must be cleared before troops, beyond 12 personnel, can be deployed overseas.
Sinn Féin announced that Ms McDonald and the North’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill would boycott the traditional St Patrick’s Day trip to Washington DC in 2025 due to concerns about US President Donald Trump’s handling of Israel’s war on Gaza.
The party is typically invited to several events, including the Speaker’s Lunch on Capitol Hill and the Shamrock Ceremony in the White House.
Speaking in February, Ms McDonald expressed “horror” at Mr Trump’s position on the war, saying she would not travel as “a principled stance against the call for the mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza”.
Ms McDonald told the that she “hopes that we will be in a position to go” to DC this year.
“Last year, we found ourselves at the height of a genocide in Gaza, and with suggestions that the worst was to come, and that, literally, there would be the wholesale occupation of territory and turning it into some kind of real estate deal,” she said.
“We had to take a stand. People in the US know Ireland's position on Palestine. They certainly know Sinn Féin's position on this question.
“I very much hope that as we come into the new year, there will be an international step change, that we see a proper ceasefire, a genuine ceasefire, and that we see genuine efforts made by regional players, but also the entire international community, to stop Israel.”
When asked if the party would go to DC if this did not happen, Ms McDonald said it would “have to deal with that at that point in time”, expressing concern that despite there being a “ceasefire in name”, Israel “continues to act with impunity”.
Elsewhere, Ms McDonald said Sinn Féin will continue to push back against the Government’s plans to amend the “Triple Lock” by removing the requirement for the UN to approve Irish peacekeeping missions.
In October, Taoiseach Micheál Martin claimed there was a "degree of naïvety" among Irish people regarding "existential threats" from Russia and other aggressors.
Ms McDonald denied that opposing changes to the Triple Lock was naïve, stating that successive governments had shown “gross irresponsibility” by “running down our capabilities”.
“I think that chicken is now home to roost,” she said.
“Of course, we have to have surveillance of our seas and skies. We have to be mindful of the very, very valuable cables that lie on our seabed.
“They're really serious things that require investment. I believe in Irish neutrality passionately, because I believe it is the right position for a small country such as ours, with the colonial past that we have, our experience of occupation, of division, of conflict, of war, but also of peacekeeping.”
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