February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Adams will similarly not be attending the Speaker’s Lunch that follows. President Bush’s presence at the event is anticipated, so Adams is not being invited, it was confirmed Tuesday.
Just as Adams and the leaders of all the North parties are being excluded from the White House party, so will most be excluded from the Capitol Hill lunch hosted by House speaker Dennis Hastert.
SDLP leader Mark Durkan could end up being the sole party leader at the lunch.
In some cases, the bar on invitations to both the White House and speaker’s event has already been rendered moot.
Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble will “probably not” be traveling to D.C. anyway, according to a UUP spokeswoman, while the Democratic Unionist Party is most definitely staying away.
By contrast, British Northern Secretary Paul Murphy and the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s chief constable, Hugh Orde, are expected in D.C. on March 17.
The SDLP, meanwhile, announced Tuesday that it would be dispatching the “largest SDLP delegation ever to travel to the U.S. for St. Patrick’s Week.” The seven-member visiting group will be led by Durkan, who will be in Washington on March 17 after earlier attending a conference on the peace process at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
The Irish Independent reported Tuesday that the sisters and fianc