SEVERAL politicians in Ireland are boycotting the July 4 celebrations at the American Embassy in Dublin in protest at President Donald Trump’s border policies.
The US President has faced criticism recently for a policy that has seen hundreds of immigrant children separated from their parents.
Trump has since signed an executive order preventing migrant families from being separated, but said his zero-tolerance approach to immigration will continue.
As the American Embassy in Dublin gets their Independence Day celebrations underway tonight, some Irish TDs and Senators have shunned the event.
.@USAmbIreland makes remarks at #IndependenceDayDublin mentioning the many links between Ireland and the U.S. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/mocArlHHXA
— U.S. Embassy Dublin (@USEmbassyDublin) July 3, 2018
According to the Irish Times, Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin will not be attending due to the recent controversy over child migrants.
Last month, Labour Senator Aodhán Ó Riordáin called on Irish politicians to boycott the event, saying the idea of drinking champagne at a celebration at this time would be unthinkable.
The Times adds that Junior Ministers Finian McGrath and John Halligan had declined invitations to the event, while Social Democrats co-leaders Róisín Shortall and Catherine Murphy were not attending over concerns about child separation at the Mexican border.
Meanwhile Independent.ie reports that Green Party TD Eamon Ryan will not be attending as “a protest directly relating to the separation of families along the Mexican border”.
It adds that all six People Before Profits TDs are not attending, as well as Fianna Fáil Senator Lorraine Clifford Lee.
This year’s event, hosted by chargé d’affaires Reece Smyth at the US Ambassador’s Phoenix Park residence, is entitled United We Rock.
See More: Deerfield, Donald Trump, US Embassy In Ireland
