Ireland will work with whomever wins the presidential election in the United States, the Taoiseach and Tánaiste have stressed, as they stopped short of saying whether they agreed with Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman that a victory by Donald Trump would be a “disaster”.
The race between former US president Mr Trump and the current vice-president Kamala Harris is too close to call as voters go to the polls across the US today.
On Monday Green Party leader and Minister for Children and Integration Roderic O’Gorman said Mr Trump’s re-election would be “a disaster for the US, Ireland and the planet”.
Speaking to reporters in advance of Cabinet, Taoiseach Simon Harris and Tánaiste Micheál Martin did not say if they agreed with Mr O’Gorman.
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Mr Martin, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, said the Government “really have to not embroil ourselves in the election”.
Asked if Mr O’Gorman should have commented at all on the election, Mr Harris said “anyone can comment in this democracy”.
He said: “While I have very strong views on the US presidential election, and very personal views as to what I’d like to see happen, I’m very conscious as Taoiseach of the country not to interfere in an election in another country.
“I wouldn’t appreciate if former president Trump or vice-president Harris started to tell people in Ireland who to vote for and I don’t think people in Ireland would appreciate that either so it’s entirely a matter for people in the United States today. I wish the candidates well.”
He added that it will be a “consequential election” and “who sits in the Oval Office does matter” but said Ireland has shown “an ability to work with administrations of all political backgrounds over the years. Of course we’ll continue to do that whoever wins the election.”
The Fine Gael leader said that “in a broad sense” it is “time for continued focus on multilateralism”.
“We need both the US and the European Union involved in major issues including trying to bring peace to the Middle East, including supporting Ukraine, including issues around climate and of course trade policy between the US and the EU and the US and Ireland matters a lot to this country as well.
“So let’s see what happens after the people of the United States vote.”
Mr Martin said Ireland would work with “all administrations irrespective of their political positioning, so we work on both sides of the aisle”.
He said: “We all have our views as politicians and political parties but the Government has to be Government and has to behave like a Government and in my view we really have to not embroil ourselves in the election.”
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