First Minister Michelle O’Neill ‘wishes Trump well’ following election

Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill has said she wishes US President-elect Donald Trump well in the role.

However the Sinn Fein vice-president declined to say if she would accept any future invitation to meet him and emphasised her focus with any US administration is its role in the peace process and the situation in Gaza.

During Mr Trump’s last service in the White House in February 2017 Ms O’Neill said would not have invited him to Northern Ireland if she was in the Executive Office at that time.

Asked about that statement by media in Cookstown on Wednesday and whether she would go to Washington DC to meet him, Ms O’Neill said: “The election result has just been announced and we are where we are.

“The American people have voted and they have voted for President Trump. I wish him well in his new role.”

She added: “My priority when it comes to engaging with the American administration, as it always has been, is the role that they play in terms of our peace process here and in particular protection of the Good Friday Agreement but also given everything that is happening in the Middle East and the genocide in Gaza, that would be my strong engagement with any American administration.

“But I think the one thing we have in our favour here is that we have bipartisan support across the American system which has obviously stood well to us over the years and will continue to stand well to us.”

Speaking separately, deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said she congratulates Mr Trump on a “resounding result”.

“Of course we want to establish a positive working relationship with the President of the United States. We have always a very long and historic bond and links to the United States and not just in terms of trade but with our history and heritage.

“We look forward to working with him in the years ahead.”

There was a mixed reaction from parties in Northern Ireland to the election of Mr Trump.

DUP leader Gavin Robinson congratulated Mr Trump.

“Elections can be divisive, as this election has been, but the conclusion has been decisive,” he said.

“The American people have given a strong mandate to President Trump to serve as the 47th president.

“I congratulate him, the vice-president elect JD Vance, and their team for achieving what has rightly been described as the greatest political comeback of all time.

“In President Trump’s last term, the door of the White House was open, and indeed many regarded his presidency as one of balance and fairness regarding our own local political divisions.

“I trust he adopts the same approach to the 47th presidency as he did the 45th, and the ties between the US and Northern Ireland remain strong.

“I wish him well.”

UUP leader Mike Nesbitt also congratulated Mr Trump.

He said: “With America preparing to celebrate the 250th anniversary of its independence in 2026, there is a unique opportunity for the President-elect to celebrate, considering his family ties, the profound contribution people from these islands made to shaping the United States, particularly through the two massive waves of immigration from this island, by the Ulster Scots in the 1600s and what became the Irish Americans in the 1800s.”

However SDLP leader Claire Hanna said there is “serious concern” about what Mr Trump’s election will mean for the US.

“My thoughts today are largely with people in the United States who are fearful about what this might mean for their future,” she said.

“Donald Trump has repeatedly shown himself as someone with little respect for most people or the high office that he once again holds.

“It’s very disheartening that his divisive brand of politics has been so widely endorsed, but we acknowledge the clarity of the election outcome.

“There is serious concern about what this means for the United States, Gaza, Ukraine and indeed the world.

“In each, the most vulnerable will likely bear the brunt of the decisions the Trump administration will take.”

TUV leader Jim Allister said, however, that he believes Mr Trump had been the better candidate.

“It’s for the American people to make their choice and I do envy the fact that they are entitled to elect those who make their laws, unlike us in 300 areas where laws are made in a foreign parliament,” he said.

“Donald Trump was better than the alternative of (Kamala) Harris.

“On the issues which impact Northern Ireland, I trust that the historic premise of the United States, no taxation without representation, is something which could give him something to think about when it comes to us.

“As a man who respects borders, when he comes to deal with the United Kingdom I suspect he may be surprised we have a partitioning border down the middle of the UK and that may dissipate the inclination to do trade deals.”