SINN FEIN’S leadership will not attend an event at the White House in “a principled stance against the threat of mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza.”

Party president Mary Lou McDonald and Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill, Sinn Fein’s vice-president, made the announcement today.

Senior Sinn Fein figures usually travel to the United States every year around the time that the the Taoiseach takes up a traditional invitation to meet the US president for St Patrick’s Day events.