Northern Ireland should be given special status within the European Union, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has said as he met with members of the US Congress and the State Department in Washington DC.
Mr Adams, who attended a memorial mass for Martin McGuinness in St Peter’s Church in Capitol Hill on Tuesday morning, said it was important that the US continued to focus on the peace process in Northern Ireland.
“The best way to defend the Good Friday Agreement, and to ensure that the two economies on the island are protected, is for the North to be assigned special status within the EU. It is also the only way in which the majority vote of citizens in the North to remain in the EU can be respected,” he said.
Mr Adams also met Secretary of State for Northern Ireland James Brokenshire on Monday night, where both men discussed the current political deadlock in the North.
Mr Adams said it was imperative for the British government to honour its obligations under the Belfast Agreement, including in connection with legacy issues.
"It is not acceptable that the British government has refused to honour commitments it made in the Stormont House Agreement on legacy three years ago," he said.
Mr Adams also visited Boston and New York during his trip to the US, meeting with the Friends of Sinn Féin committee among others.
Speaking at a reception on Monday, Mr Brokenshire said that he expects an “intensification” of talks about power-sharing in Northern Ireland towards the end of August. “I want to see that power sharing executive up and running at the earliest possible time,” he said.
Mr Brokenshire, whose visit coincides with a visit by Britain’s international trade secretary Liam Fox to Washington to discuss a possible EU-UK trade deal, said that Northern Ireland will continue to benefit from US foreign direct investment after Brexit.
Stressing the positive impacts of Brexit on the British economy, Mr Brokenshire said that one reason US companies invest in Northern Ireland is due to access to the British market.
He said that Northern Ireland currently benefits more than any other region in the UK from US investment.
“We have 175 US companies in Northern Ireland employing 24,000 people,” he said, rejecting suggestions that Britain’s departure from the European Union would lessen its attraction as an investment destination.
