'Wasteful' funding of $70k for 'DEI Musical in Ireland' slammed by the White House

The allocation of $70,000 by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) for a 'DEI musical' in Ireland has been strongly criticised by the White House Press Secretary Karoline Levitt.

Speaking in Washington on Monday night (Irish time) she criticised the decision to allocate the funding which she said is an example of "wasteful spending of American taxpayer dollars".

Over the weekend the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was appointed acting administrator of the USAID, confirming the de-facto takeover of the humanitarian agency by the State Department.

The agency was set up in the early 1960s to administer humanitarian aid programmes on behalf of the US government around the world, including in Ireland.

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Addressing reporters in Washington, Ms Levitt said: "If you look at the waste and abuse that has run through USAID over the past several years, these are some of the insane priorities that the organisation has been spending money on -- $1.5 million to advance DEI in Serbia's workplaces, $70,000 for the production of a DEI musical in Ireland, $47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia, $32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru."

Ms Levett, who did not elaborate on any of the individual projects added: "I don't know about you but as an American taxpayer, I don't want my dollars going towards this crap and I know the American people don't want to either."