In response to a question about the US President Donald Trump’s admiration for Conor McGregor, the Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly has said she engages “with the office of president” rather than his “particular personal views”.
She added that she has “been very clear” that she wants to make ending violence against women and girls a “key priority”.
Little-Pengelly, as well as Communities Minister Gordon Lyons and Northern Ireland Assembly Speaker Edwin Poots, met the US president during a St Patrick’s Day luncheon on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
She insisted that her role as deputy first minister was to “champion Northern Ireland” and “engage with the democratically elected president”.
Speaking to BBC’s The View presenter Mark Carruthers in Washington DC, Little-Pengelly said: “We engage with the office of president, we don’t engage with people on the basis of their particular personal views or political opinions.”
“Regardless of what you think of President Trump, this is a president with the ability to make decisions that will have a big impact on Northern Ireland,” she added.
When asked if she should separate the man from the office, she answered: “Of course, I think we have to.”
“When you meet with a leader of another country you are not meeting with them because you agree with their political agenda or personal opinions, you’re meeting with them because of that position,” the minister added.
She said that if you enter the “territory in terms of judging people” on their personal opinions or political agenda, “there would be very few people we would engage with”.
On Thursday, Little-Pengelly was asked on BBC Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster programme whether the president’s comments about Conor McGregor made her uncomfortable as someone who has campaigned against misogyny and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG).
Last November, McGregor was ordered to pay more than €248,000 (£206,000) in damages after a jury found he had sexually assaulted Nikita Hand.
“We have campaigned incredibly hard in Northern Ireland in terms of the ending violence against women and girls strategy. I take an absolutely clear-cut stance that all VAWG is wrong,” she said.
When asked on the prospect of US import taxes on steel and aluminium, the deputy first minister told The View the Northern Ireland should be “realistic” about the situation.
“This is the president of the United States. Northern Ireland is a wee small place in the world, we have to be realistic about that. That’s why it is important for us to be here.”
“I’m concerned there is that risk there. That is why this week has been beneficial,” she added.
“The agency that we have is to influence and to make sure that this issue is on the radar for the key people.
“Can we absolutely dictate the outcome of this? No. What we can try and do is make sure that people with influence over key decision makers and policy makers are aware of this issue.”
She urged the UK government to “step up urgently” on the matter.
Former Trump aide Patrick Wilson has said there was a “tremendous amount of tone deafness by politicians in Northern Ireland”.
In 2018, he was appointed by President Trump to lead the Office of Business Liaison, within the Office of the Secretary at the US Department of Commerce
He is currently Vice President of Government Relations for MediaTek Inc.
“No one in the world is desperate to find out what political leaders in Northern Ireland think about major crises, because they’re not in a position to change it or shape it”, he told the programme.
Sinn Féin’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill announced in February that her party would boycott St Patrick’s Day events at the White House over Trump’s stance on the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Trump’s former aide told The View: “Nobody in Gaza is going to look to these politicians to save them, to house them, to clothe children, to feed hungry people.
“That’s just not what they do. They do have great programs, and I’m not trying to take away from that, but it’s not within their power. And so a lot of it is kind of a lot of words and not a lot of deeds.”
He added that certain parties in Northern Ireland have “aligned themselves with the most sort of grotesque defenders of violence”.
Meanwhile, Northern Ireland is to be included in a special international commemoration event at Mount Vernon next year.
It will form a major part of the 250th anniversary of American independence, where immigrants from Northern Ireland played a vital role in the birth of the United States.
Mount Vernon is the former residence of the first US president, George Washington.
Communities Minister Gordon Lyons said he had a meeting with the America 250 Commission and the granting of “special status” to Northern Ireland for the role they played in the early years of the US was significant.
One notable person from this period was John Dunlap, who printed the first copies of the Declaration of Independence. He was born in Strabane in 1747.
Lyons said the event was important and would put Northern Ireland “front and centre”.
“It’s been about putting Northern Ireland on the world stage and letting people know who we are and what we’re about,” he told BBC’s Nolan Show.
The communities minister was keen to stress that 17 US presidents had Ulster Scots roots.
“This is significant because the organisers of the party next year, recognise the role that people from Ulster played in the Ulster Scots in particular. We have a big story to tell that hasn’t been told in the past,” he added
The announcement comes after a £750,000 funding boost for the Ulster American Folk Park in County Tyrone.
The project is due to drive an increase in cultural and heritage links with the US.
The announcement was made during a visit to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington DC on Tuesday.
The museum tells the story of the emigration of people from Ulster to North America in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Lyons said: “Our story and the heritage we share with the US is a history worth telling. Our connections, make Northern Ireland, a deeply resonant tourist destination for many Americans wishing to learn more about their Ulster Scots roots.”