Sinn Féin will not attend this year’s celebration of St Patrick’s Day at the White House. 

Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O'Neill had previously resisted calls from other left-wing parties to boycott the event, as a show of solidarity with the people of Gaza. 

However, the Sinn Féin President said she had “listened with horror” to Trump’s calls for Palestinians to be displaced from the territory. 

“Such an approach is a fundamental breach of international law, is deeply destabilising in the Middle East and a dangerous departure from the UN position of peace and security for both Palestinians and Israelis,” she said. 

'There is an onus on us to speak honestly, and act, when we believe that the US administration is wrong.'

Mary Lou McDonald has announced that Sinn Féin will not attend this year’s celebration of St Patrick’s Day at the White House. pic.twitter.com/AzQ6y58F8g

— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) February 21, 2025

Deputy McDonald described the relationship between Ireland and the United States as “historic” and “deep”. 

She also paid tribute to Washington’s role in the Good Friday Agreement. 

“But there is an onus on us to speak honestly,” she said. 

“And to act when we believe a US administration is wrong - catastrophically so in the case of Palestine.

"I've thought deeply about this in recent days and listened to many voices inside and outside of Sinn Féin."

Trump in March 2018. Picture by: Alex Edelman/CNP/AdMedia/Newscom/Alamy Live News

Deputy McDonald did not call on Taoiseach Micheál Martin to boycott the event, but instead urged him to "reflect the view of the Irish people in relation to Palestine".

Former Trump advisor Sean Spicer told The Hard Shoulder last week that if Mr Martin uses the event to reprimand the President then it "might be the last time that [this] celebration occurs".

Main image: Mary Lou McDonald. Picture by: Alamy.com