Alliance Deputy Leader Stephen Farry MP today led an Alliance team in meeting the US Congressional delegation.  

He was joined by Kellie Armstrong MLA and Sorcha Eastwood MLA.

Stephen Farry said: “The US Congressional delegation is very welcome in Northern Ireland.  We had a positive and constructive meeting with them on a range of issues, however our first priority was to express the deepest sympathy and shock of the people of Northern Ireland at the recent school shooting in Texas.

“Successive US administrations and Congress have been supportive of Northern Ireland at different times in our peace process.  We share a desire to ensure that Northern Ireland is protected from Brexit, with the opportunities from the protocol maximised, while the challenges are overcome.

“We made two requests from the delegation.  First that they should continue to stress to the UK Government the need to build trust to work in partnership with the EU and avoid damaging unilateral action that makes that task harder.  And Second, while we understand the frustrations of the EU, we ask them to continue to encourage them to go that extra mile in flexibilities, building upon their papers from October 2021, to achieve as many flexibilities and mitigations as possible.”