Trump cancels visit to Ireland

President Trump’s scheduled trip to Ireland in mid-November has been canceled, an administration source confirmed to The Hill on Tuesday.

No reason was given for the cancellation, although Trump was expected to face protests in Ireland.

Trump had been expected to visit Dublin, the Irish capital, as well as a golf course he owns in Doonberg, County Clare on Ireland’s west coast.

{mosads}Trump had been scheduled to stop in Ireland on his way back from commemorations of Armistice Day in France on Nov. 11.

News of the cancellation was first reported by an Irish national newspaper, The Irish Independent.

A spokesperson for the Irish embassy in Washington confirmed that the proposed trip would not take place, adding “The U.S. side has cited scheduling reasons.”

However, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in a later statement was less definitive.

Sanders said: “The President will travel to Paris in November as previously announced. We are still finalizing whether Ireland will be a stop on that trip. As details are confirmed, we will let you know.”

The visit would have been Trump’s first to Ireland since becoming president. U.S. politicians, including Trump’s predecessor, former President Obama, have often visited the country, to which around 33 million Americans trace their heritage.

Trump’s visit had been announced late last month, and reportedly took the Irish government by surprise.

Some opposition parties in Ireland had protested the trip taking place at all.

Brendan Howlin, the leader of the Irish Labour Party, accused Trump of being “no friend of democracy and human rights” in an Aug. 31 tweet calling on people to join anti-Trump protests.

Mary Lou McDonald, the leader of Sinn Féin, said in early September that she would be willing to meet Trump during his Irish trip, even as she called his policies “misogynistic” and “racist.”

This story was updated at 1:37 p.m.