Boycotting the Trump White House’s Patrick’s Day Event in 2026 is a no-brainer for everybody on the left – but Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns TD thinks differently.

Her justification :

Speaking to reporters in Cork this morning ahead of the second day of the Social Democrat’s National Conference, Cairns said “given the height of contentious things coming from the White House at the moment it is perhaps more important than ever to use this unique platform that Ireland has”. 

She said Ireland is a small country, but it can be a very influential one.

“We can be a really strong voice for peace. We think Micheál Martin should use this opportunity to use that strong voice to express the will of the Irish people,” said the SocDems leader.

Source – Journal.ie

Most political parties on the Irish left support a boycott of this nauseating event, with good reason.

In 2025, Donald Trump brutally humiliated Dublin government ministers by accepting his bowl of shamrock a few days before March 17 – which was reserved for the far-right racist, the kick-boxer Conor McGregor. See full reports here, and an excellent Dáil statement by Ruth Coppinger TD.

Conor McGregor’s St. Patrick’s Day Spectacle – Two Rapists in the White House

For many years Sinn Féin mistakenly attended White House Patrick’s Day events, but joined the boycott in 2025.

The SDLP leader Colum Eastwood issued this message in 2024

Labour Party Leader Ivana Bacik TD states :

Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik has said that if US president Donald Trump continues to threaten Europe, then it would not be appropriate for the Taoiseach to visit the White House for St Patrick’s Day.

“If diplomacy this week in Davos, if diplomacy over the coming weeks doesn’t succeed in addressing the appalling threats being made by Trump, then of course Ireland must take its place in solidarity with European leaders who are now calling Trump a bully,” she told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.

“And we cannot go to Washington with shamrocks certainly in that context, and we cannot allow US planes to use Shannon and, indeed, other European countries which have US bases I am sure are having this very same conversation.

“Because it is unthinkable that a US which is militarily threatening a sovereign state in Europe could be allowed to use European countries as military bases for that.”

Bacik said the US president has “succeeded in normalising the utterly unacceptable”.

“What we’ve seen in the just a year since he took office, we’ve seen a sort of really creeping fascism taking over in the US.”

The Social Democrats need to change tack, and boycott the 2026 Patrick’s Day Trump event in the Washington DC White House.

John Meehan February 8 2026

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Petition Link :

Petition – No Shamrocks for Trump – Boycott White House Patrick’s Day 2026

To: All politicians & political parties on the Island of Ireland

No Shamrocks for Trump – Boycott the White House 2026

We are asking politicians & political parties on the Island of Ireland – to boycott The White House on St. Patrick’s Day.

Why is this important?

The genocide in Gaza continues despite a supposed “ceasefire”. International journalists are still not allowed into Gaza or the West Bank because Israel does not want the world to know what it is doing as it tries to exterminate Palestinians. 

While the genocide has been livestreamed to the world since October 7 2023, we still do not know how many people have died as a result. We know that at least 70,000 people have been killed by the Israeli army but have no figures for the number who have died because of lack of medicine for chronic conditions like diabetes, epilepsy, heart conditions etc. Nor do we know how many have died of cancer or other curable conditions.  Every step of this genocide has been funded and supported by the United States.

Now Trump has launched his Gaza “Board of Peace” and his son-in-law Jared Kushner shared slides at the launch of the “Board of Peace” showing high rise buildings and fancy hotels built on the bones of those killed in the genocide. Netanyahu, who is on this “Board of Peace” was unable to attend the launch as it was in Switzerland where he would be arrested under the International Arrest Warrant issued because of the genocide.

The reasons why Irish politicians and political parties should not pay homage to Trump have multiplied since the start of this year – the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Maduro is just one example.

We call on all political parties on the island of Ireland to listen to the people and not go to Washington on St. Patrick’s Day to shake hands soaked with the blood of Palestinians.