The Green Party has called on the Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Des Cahill, to decline an invitation from Donald Trump to visit the White House as part of St Patrick’s Day celebrations in protest at the US President’s ban on refugees entering the United States.
Green Party representative in Cork North Central, Oliver Moran said Cllr Cahill will be meeting President Trump on behalf of the citizens of Cork on March 16th, the day that the US president’s second ban on migrants from six majority Muslim countries comes into effect.
Earlier this month, President Trump signed a second executive order halting the acceptance of refugees by the United States.
The executive order is due to take effect on March 16th, the day the Lord Mayor will meet President Trump.
“How will he (Lord Mayor Cahill) be able to hold his head up high in Cork on his return? Will he be thinking of the Cork woman, Mary Elmes, who died 15 years ago last week? Last October, he described her as a Cork hero,” said Mr Moran.
“She risked her life transporting Jewish refugees out of occupied France and is honoured as one of the Righteous among the Nations. What would she make of Trump’s cold-hearted treatment of refugees today?”
However Cllr Cahill, a member of Fine Gael, told The Evening Echo it was an honour that Cork would be represented at the White House when Taoiseach Enda Kenny presents a bowl of shamrock to President Trump.
“It was a pleasant surprise and an honour. The event is on Thursday so I will be able attend and make it back for the parade in Cork on Friday,” said Cllr Cahill who is the first Lord Mayor of Cork to St Patrick’s Day celebrations in the White House.
“This is an invitation from the US to the Office of the Lord Mayor of Cork and is a huge honour for the city.
"Given the large number of US companies here in Cork and the number of Irish companies in the US, it is fitting I attend," he told The Evening Echo.
But Green Party representative in Cork South Central, Lorna Bogue supported her party colleague Mr Moran in his criticism.
She called on Cllr Cahill to reconsider his decision to accept the invitation particularly in light of the standing in which the office is held both nationally and internationally.
“I’m sure that Des Cahill will go anyway, but he should think long and hard about the office that he occupies. Previous Lord Mayors of Cork cemented Cork’s reputation worldwide as the rebel city through acts of great heroism in order to stand up for what they believed in,” she said.
“Lord Mayor MacSwiney for example provoked the American people to threaten to boycott British food through his hunger strike.
“The Lord Mayor of Cork doesn’t need to cravenly shake hands with a tyrant. He besmirches the office of MacCurtain and MacSwiney by doing so.”
