“We are glad he is not coming.”
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The Irish government announced Tuesday that President Donald Trump canceled his planned trip to the country, scheduled to happen in November. According to the Irish Independent, the trip was “postponed due to scheduling reasons,” but some speculate that the controversy surrounding Trump coming to the island turned the president off from his visit.
Trump surprised Ireland by announcing he would visit Dublin and a golf property on the west coast of the county after attending a parade in Paris to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the end of Word War I.
“It came a little bit out of the blue,” said Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Sept 2. “There is an open invitation to the US President to visit Ireland at any time.”
But Ireland’s Labor and Green parties did not feel the same way. Both parties were planning protests to mark Trumps arrival to the nation.
We are an open and tolerant nation. Trump’s values are not our values, and there should be no welcome mat laid out for a man of his world-view. #TrumpInIreland pic.twitter.com/uCVxdMbhOf
— The Labour Party (@labour) September 1,2018
Ireland’s Green Party celebrated the news of Trump’s cancelled visit. In a statement, party leader, Eamon Ryan, said:
“The visit came out of the blue and has now been canceled in the same erratic way. We are glad he is not coming. Trump’s positions and demeanor on every issue of the day, from climate to women’s rights, form international relations to political decency, represent the opposite of Green and indeed Irish values. It’s hard to know why the trip has been cancelled at this stage, but we are nonetheless glad that such a costly, potentially divisive and undignified event will now not take place.”
Despite Irish government officials saying the trip was cancelled, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters on Tuesday that the Irish trip is still in consideration. “The president will travel to Paris in November as previously announced,” she said. “We are still finalizing whether Ireland will be a stop on that trip. As details are confirmed we will let you know.”
The United States has not had an ambassador to Ireland since Trump took office.
