DUBLIN (Reuters) – Donald Trump has canceled a planned trip to Ireland in November that would have been his first as U.S. president, citing scheduling issues, the Irish government said on Tuesday.
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump walks to Marine One while departing the White House in Washington, U.S., September 6, 2018. REUTERS/Chris Wattie
The White House in August announced that Trump would travel to Ireland for the first time as president as part of a trip to attend the Nov. 11 commemoration in Paris of the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended World War One.
A number of groups announced they would stage protests during the Trump visit, in which the president had been expected to visit the capital Dublin and his golf resort in the west coast village of Doonbeg.
“The proposed visit of the U.S. President is postponed,” an Irish government spokesman told Reuters. “The U.S side has cited scheduling reasons.”
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who as a cabinet minister opposed extending an invitation to Trump before changing his mind when he became prime minister, had described the trip as coming “a little bit out of the blue”, but said the office of the U.S. president must be respected.
Ireland’s opposition Green Party, which had opposed the trip, described the announcement and following cancellation as “erratic.”
“Trump’s positions and demeanor on every issue of the day, from climate to women’s rights, from international relations to political decency, represent the opposite of … Irish values,” Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said.
Reporting by Conor Humphries, Editing by Mark Heinrich, William Maclean