17 March 2016•Update: 19 March 2016
LONDON
Irish republican leader Gerry Adams has slammed the United States for denying him entry to a White House reception to which he had been invited by President Barack Obama.
Adams, the president of Irish nationalist political party Sinn Fein, was kept waiting by the U.S. Secret Service outside the annual St Patrick’s Day reception Wednesday night for 90 minutes after being informed a security issue had arisen.
He shared photographs of his invitation on Twitter, saying it was “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,” he said.
He continued: “Sinn Fein 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.”
The U.S. Secret Service said it regretted Adams’ entry could not be resolved in a “more timely manner”.
It said in a statement to the Irish Times: "Unfortunately, an administrative input error received by the Secret Service was not able to be rectified promptly."
Two other senior Sinn Fein leaders, Mary Lou McDonald and Martin McGuinness, were allowed inside.
The party has historical links to the IRA, but more recently committed to the Northern Ireland peace process and today shares power in government with pro-British unionists.
