US VICE PRESIDENT Mike Pence has confirmed that he will visit Ireland on 6 and 7 September.
“Finally on September 6-7 we will travel to Ireland, a country that is very near to my family’s heart, where we look forward to meeting with President Michael D Higgins, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tánaiste Simon Coveney while celebrating my Irish roots,” Pence tweeted this afternoon.
As earlier reported on TheJournal.ie, Pence will voice the United States’ “commitment to maintaining peace, prosperity, and stability in Ireland by upholding the Good Friday Agreement”, the White House said.
The statement comes at a time when the accord is increasingly under the microscope as the Brexit deadline looms.
In recent days, US President Donald Trump’s national security advisor John Bolton said the UK would be “first in line” for a trade deal after it exits the European Union.
That was rebuffed yesterday by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the most senior Democrat on Capitol Hill, who said there is no chance of Congress approving a trade agreement if Brexit undermines the agreement
The trip comes after Trump spent several days in Ireland at his Doonbeg golf resort in Co Clare in June.
Leo Varadkar and his partner Matt Barrett met with Pence during The Taoiseach’s St Patrick’s Day visit to the US earlier this year.
As mentioned in his tweet, Pence has strong ancestral roots to Ireland.
His grandfather emigrated to the US from Tubercurry, County Sligo in the 1920s, and it is understood he passed through immigration inspections at Ellis Island.
His great-grandmother came from Doonbeg, County Clare, home to Trump’s famous Irish golf resort. Pence is believed to have been quite close to his grandfather, someone he says was a great inspiration to him.
The vice-president has returned to his ancestral home on many occasions over the years.
In 2009, he told the Irish Voice newspaper how he remembers spending summers in Ireland, cutting turf and saving hay in Clare and Sligo.
Prior to his trip to Ireland, Pence will visit Iceland on 4 September and London on 5 September.
Speaking of his trip to London, Pence said he will have “high-level meetings on trade, joint economic cooperation, countering Iran’s aggressions, and the special relationship between our two countries”.
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