“Yesterday, I called officials in Ireland to express my deep regret that I would not be able to travel to Dublin and Sligo as I had planned and to apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.  I was honored to be invited to meet with Irish government officials and business leaders, as well as to help unveil a monument to the ‘Fighting 69th,’ the legendary Irish brigade – and I was very much looking forward to the visit.  Unfortunately, as a result of a recent heat wave, a number of neighborhoods in Queens experienced a sustained loss of electrical power, which caused real hardship for residents and businesses.  While the problems have been repaired and power has now been restored to nearly every home and business, our electrical grid remains vulnerable.  In order to continue monitoring the situation closely and best manage our response if the grid begins to fail again, I felt the responsible course was to postpone the trip.

“I want to thank Irish leaders in both Dublin and Sligo, and all the residents of Ballymote, for their understanding, and for their generous offer to reschedule the events we had planned.  I will eagerly take them up on that offer and hope to schedule the trip for August.  In the meantime, I will do the next best thing: I will have dinner tonight at a pub in Woodside, Queens, home to a thriving Irish community.”