Yesterday, Gerry Adams made his way to The White House for the annual St. Patrick's Day event, only to be refused entry. Despite being sent an invite, the event organisers decided not to grant him entry, due to a 'security issue.' 

Adams reportedly stayed outside for 90 minutes, perhaps in the hopes that they'd change their minds, but it wasn't to be. 

Since then, the Sinn Fein leader has posted evidence of his invite to the event... 

When people responded that "that could be anyones", Adams has this follow up post.

Adams released a statement this evening regarding the situation, which reads...

“I had received my usual invitation to attend the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in the White House and was pleased to accept. “When I arrived the staff at the White House informed me that there was an issue of ‘security’. After two decades of travelling back and forth to the USA and countless meetings in the White House with successive US Presidents, this is an unacceptable development. It is obvious that there remain some within the US administration who seek to treat Sinn Fein differently. Some of our political representatives have been denied access to the USA while others, including myself, have to regularly go through additional searches and scrutiny when we travel to and from the USA. Last year the State Department initially refused to meet me as part of a transparent effort to pressurise Sinn Féin during negotiations at Stormont.“That meeting did take place after protests from US political leaders. Efforts to pressurise us in the negotiations failed. This morning Martin McGuinness, Mary Lou McDonald and I met with the Congressional Friends of Ireland. They too shared our grave disappointment at the White House situation and expressed their determination to have this issue resolved. Sinn Féin will not sit at the back of the bus for anyone. We are elected to represent citizens and we will do this. I am hopeful that the controversy around my White House invitation will help lead to a resolution of all these matters.”

His 'back of the bus' comment has garnered the following reactions...


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