Ian Paisley Jr has invited Donald Trump to visit Northern Ireland

The Democratic Unionist Party MP invited the US President to visit while at a St Patrick's Day reception at the White House.

US President Donald Trump has been invited to visit Northern Ireland by Ian Paisley Jr.

The Democratic Unionist Party MP extended an invite to the US President over St Patrick's Day celebrations at the White House.

Mr Paisley's revelation comes after speculation that Trump might visit Northern Ireland following the meeting of the two. The son of the DUP's founder, also named Ian Paisley, was invited to President Trump's residence for the White House's annual St Patrick's Day reception dinner. The MP took to Twitter following the event to say that he was the only person from Northern Ireland invited to the reception. https://twitter.com/ianpaisleymp/status/974446869412708352 "Had a very enjoyable day as a guest of Mr President and the First Lady at the White House. Great to have the support of Donald Trump for Northern Ireland & honoured to be only person from NI to be invited to a private family reception," he wrote. No set plans are currently in place for a presidential visit, but the MP insisted that Mr Trump "indicated" he would be happy to come "I spoke to him 10 days ago and personally issued that invitation," Mr Paisley told the BBC's Evening Extra programme. "I'm confident that he will be here very soon," he added. The Junior Minister told Evening Extra that Mr Trump "has indicated to me personally that it is his intention to visit. "I look forward to welcoming him, and to seeing him, hopefully in County Antrim." It's been suggested that the US President is keen on travelling to Ireland as soon as June, with reports saying that he could travel to Belfast, and possibly cross the border to the Republic during that time. It's not the first time that Mr Paisley has invited President Trump to visit his constituency of North Antrim. Back in March of last year, the Belfast Telegraph reported that Paisley invited Trump to Royal Portrush Golf Club when it hosts the Open Golf Championship in 2019. During the St Patrick's Day celebrations, the US President told Taoiseach Leo Varadkar he intended to visit Ireland before the end of his first term in office. but the visit never went ahead The controversial world leader, who is also a keen golfer, owns a golf course at Doonbeg, County Clare. Trump was supposed to visit the Trump International Links in Clare back in June 2017, but the visit never went ahead. During that planned visit, Trump was originally supposed to visit both Scotland and Ireland. The Irish leg of the trip was later cancelled, for a reason that was never discussed.