O'Neill and Little-Pengelly fly to US for St Patrick's Biden meeting
- Published
Michelle O'Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly took up office in February
The first and deputy first ministers travel to the United States on Wednesday ahead of St Patrick's Day celebrations in Washington.
Michelle O'Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly are due to take part in a series of trade and leadership events.
They will then attend the annual St Patrick's ceremony at the White House.
It is the first joint visit by Executive Office ministers since Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness met the then-US President Barack Obama in 2016.
The programme in Washington DC will include the traditional Northern Ireland Bureau breakfast.
There will also be events to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Washington Ireland Program - a post-conflict leadership scheme aimed at developing young people from a wide range of communities and backgrounds.
Jayne Brady, head of the Northern Ireland civil service, and Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris will also join the executive ministers at events across the week.
The traditional shamrock handover between Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar and US President Joe Biden will take place in the Oval Office on Sunday.
Leo Varadkar and Joe Biden at the White House on 17 March 2023 - taoisigh (Irish prime ministers) traditionally present US presidents with a bowl of shamrock on St Patrick's Day
Last year, the US president undertook a four-day visit to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to mark 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement.
During the trip President Biden urged politicians to make a return to power-sharing in a speech at Ulster University's Belfast campus.
Since then, devolved government in Northern Ireland has been restored after the Democratic Unionist Party agreed a deal with the UK government which saw new legislation being passed at Westminster to alleviate the party's concerns about post-Brexit trade arrangements.
US congressman Richie Neal has welcomed the return of Stormont and praised the political leaders who took risks to restore power sharing.
He said he had contacted Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and acknowledged his courage in bringing the Democratic Unionist Party back into government.
Stormont reform
When asked about Stormont's long term stability he stressed that "there should be some penalty for walking away from government".
"Many days in Washington I disagree but you never walk away because that would be a violation of your constituency" he added.
Speaking in Washington at an event held by Queen's University Mr Neal also warned against reopening the agreement prematurely.
Also at the event, former Northern Ireland talks negotiator Jonathan Powell stressed that forced long term forced power sharing "doesn't work very well".
"But this is exactly the wrong time to dig up those issues just when we have Stormont back up and running again, we shouldn't throw the whole thing open again" he added.
Mr Powell said that issues surrounding reform of the Stormont institutions should be debated but added "let's not change the rules until we have things pinned down and working properly".
St Patrick's cheer can't mask all Biden's problems
It is the good news story US President Joe Biden has been waiting to celebrate and one which he badly needs right now.
Toasting the return of power-sharing devolved government to Northern Ireland after a gap of two years.
It will add some shine to the St Patrick's Day celebrations in Washington this week and provide a timely boost for Team Biden ahead of the presidential election in November.
But while the resolution of one conflict 26 years ago is still being celebrated, another conflict - the Israel-Gaza War - will overshadow the festivities in Washington this week.
While discussions around the restored power-sharing institutions are likely to be high on the agenda in Washington, they are likely to be overshadowed by the ongoing Israel-Gaza war.
The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) will not attend the White House celebrations because of the US response to the conflict.
SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood said his party would instead send a delegation to Washington "to make the case for an end to violence".
In February, the US ambassador to the UK said lessons could be learned from Northern Ireland's peace process when dealing with the Israel-Gaza war.
Jane Hartley, who has been the US ambassador since 2022, described the situation in Gaza as a "horrific series of events".
She repeated Mr Biden's intention to get hostages released and move towards a humanitarian ceasefire.