'Northern Ireland has a powerful story to tell in the United States': Deputy first minister ​Emma Little-Pengelly at helm of NI delegation to Washington

​Emma Little-Pengelly of the DUP met yesterday morning with the UK ambassador to the United States in Britain’s fabulous ambassadorial residence in the American capital – until recently the home of a former Northern Ireland secretary, the now disgraced Peter Mandelson.

Mrs Little-Pengelly held a face-to-face meeting with Sir Christian Turner KCMG, His Majesty's Ambassador to the US, a day after she met the current president, Donald Trump.

The Sinn Fein first minister, Michelle O’Neill, has been snubbing the St Patrick’s Day events over the US-Israeli military strikes against Iran. Only unionist ministers at Stormont have been present in the American capital – Mrs Little-Pengelly, the communities minister Gordon Lyons, the health minister Mike Nesbitt, as well as the unionist MLAs Jonathan Buckley of the DUP and the Ulster Unionist leader, Jon Burrows.

No current elected politicians from either the SDLP or the Alliance Party have been in Washington for the various events, which kicked off with a breakfast hosted by the Northern Ireland bureau at 8am on St Patrick’s Day itself, Tuesday, at Union Station.

The festivities, which over the decades have traditionally been dominated by leaders from the Republic of Ireland but have – since the restoration of devolution in the late 1990s – begun to involve significant input from Northern Ireland, then included a joint appearance at the White House Oval Office by the Taoiseach Micheal Martin and President Trump. That was dominated by Mr Trump’s scathing criticism of the UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

Events then moved to the US houses of congress, known as Capitol Hill, for an intimate lunch with the president attended by less than 100 people including all the unionist politicians and the secretary of state, Hilary Benn. Mr Trump mentioned that Mrs Little-Pengelly was present in her role as NI deputy first minister.

This lunch included a celebration of Scots Irish history and music based on the story of the 1636 vessel that sailed out from Groomsport towards the American colonies, but failed to complete the journey.

President Trump listened intently as Trevor Marshall explained the story and influence of the Scots Irish – in contrast to Mr Trump's speech which had only referred in general terms to the Irish, by which he meant the overall waves of immigrants including the early arrivals who were overwhelmingly of Scottish origin and the later large numbers of Irish Catholic incomers, a century or so later in the mid to late 1800s.

Later on Sat Patrick’s Day, there was a huge reception at the White House for a shamrock presentation to President Trump from Mr Martin. It was prior to this gathering that Mrs Little-Pengelly got 10 minutes with Mr Trump.

Her meeting with Sir Christian followed a major post-St Patrick’s Day breakfast early yesterday morning attended by hundreds of guests, in which Sir Christian spoke about the now warm relations between Britain and Ireland and the US. He also pointed out that Northern Ireland made up one-third of the population of the island of Ireland.

The deputy first minister’s face-to-face encounter with him was what the DUP described as “part of a series of engagements to strengthen Northern Ireland’s presence in the United States”.

Mrs Little-Pengelly, speaking after the meeting, said: “Northern Ireland has a powerful story to tell in the United States, rooted in deep historic ties and strong economic links as well as shared values. My meeting with the UK ambassador focused on how we better integrate Northern Ireland into the UK’s diplomatic and trade activity here in Washington and across the United States.

“There is significant potential to enhance Northern Ireland’s visibility at both federal and state level. We discussed practical ways to ensure Northern Ireland is consistently represented in engagements, building stronger relationships with key decision-makers, investors and partners across America.”

Mrs Little-Pengelly continued: “St Patrick’s Week presents a major platform for Northern Ireland. We must maximise every opportunity to promote our economy and showcase what we have to offer. That requires a coordinated and proactive approach, working closely with our UK diplomatic network. The DUP will continue to engage positively and strategically to ensure Northern Ireland’s interests are advanced.”