November 5, 2024: US Ambassador to Ireland Claire Cronin hosts an Election Watch Party at Dublin's Guinness Storehouse.RollingNews.ie

Claire Cronin, the US Ambassador to Ireland, issued a video message on Tuesday from Dublin as millions of Americans headed to the polls for the 2024 US Presidential election.

The US Ambassador, who was nominated for her role by President Biden in 2021, was hosting an election night watch party at The Guinness Storehouse in Dublin on Tuesday night.

"I appreciate the great interest that the Irish people have in the US political system and our elections," Cronin said in her video message posted on social media on Tuesday afternoon.

"As I have traveled around this beautiful country, I have met many Irish people who are so eager to talk about polls, swing states, and even the electoral college.

"So tonight, as we watch the results come in, I think of what President Biden has said about the importance of democracy: the right to vote, to have your vote counted, is the threshold of democracy and liberty everywhere in the world and with it anything is possible.

"So, I won't make any predictions, except one for tonight - the US-Irish relationship will remain strong, no matter who wins."

The Ambassador's message was issued the day after Roderic O'Gorman, the leader of Ireland's Green Party and Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth of Ireland, said that "it is vital that Donald Trump does not win this election."

O'Gorman's sentiments echoed those offered in June by Leo Varadkar, who resigned as Taoiseach in March: “I don’t think it’s a good thing for America or the world for President Trump to be re-elected."

While Cronin’s message was surely meant to be feel-good, it came the same day that Irish outlet The Ditch published what it says is an email issued by the Ambassador warning about “consequences” if the Irish Government passes the Occupied Territories Bill.

The Bill, introduced by Senator Frances Black in 2018, aims to ban trade between Ireland and Israel’s illegal settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territories. It has been stalled at committee stage in the Dáil since 2020.

According to The Ditch, Cronin issued her emails on October 22, less than a week after Taoiseach Simon Harris told reporters that Ireland "will not wait for everybody in Europe to move on the issue of trade in the Occupied Palestinian Territories [OPT]."

The Ditch reports that in her email, Cronin wrote in part: “I encourage your teams to conduct thorough due diligence on the bill's potential impact to avoid any unforeseen consequences that could detract what you hope to achieve with this legislation."

Her email was sent at 2:33 pm on October 22 to Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary General Joe Hackett, the Department of Enterprise address, as well as Taoiseach Simon Harris and Department of the Taoiseach Secretary General John Callinan.

Assistant Secretary for EU and International Division Helen Blake, US Deputy Chief of Mission Michael Clausen, and another state department official also received it, The Ditch added.

The Ditch goes on to report that less than 90 minutes after receiving Cronin's email, Tánaiste Micheál Martin announced that rather than bring the Occupied Territories Bill into law, "the bill will be reviewed and amendments will be prepared in order to bring it into line with the constitution and EU law."

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Meanwhile, in the US, early exit polls showed what issues were most pressing for voters. CBS News reported on Tuesday evening as the first polls began to close that for Harris voters, the state of democracy was the most important issue while for Trump voters, it's the economy.

A majority of both groups of voters said they will feel scared if the other side wins, CBS News reported, and about seven in 10 voters (majorities on both sides) expect there to be violence related to the results of the presidential election.

Earlier, on Sunday evening, Jen O'Malley Dillon, the Campaign Chair for Harris for President, outlined the rough timeline of when she and her team were expecting results.

"We may not know the results of this election for several days," she said in an email blast on November 3. "But we must stay calm and confident during that period of time.

"We all have a role to play to ensure that our friends, family, and neighbors trust our electoral process."