Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe will stress the need to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland when he meets key White House officials. Mr Donohoe is travelling to Washington today where he will update acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney on Brexit. “America's influence in Northern Ireland has always been very important, and will continue to be really important,” he said at an event in Dublin this morning. Stressing the fact that the US is a significant employer in Northern Ireland, and as a country that was “intimately involved” in the creation of the Good Friday Agreement , Mr Donohoe said the American influence will continue to be important in the context of Brexit. “From the engagement that I've had with members of President Trump's administration, and from the engagement that I've had on Capitol Hill, it's clear to me that they take their responsibilities deeply seriously.

Source: Irish Examiner October 16, 2019 09:00 UTC