New York (CNN) Ireland's Prime Minister is facing calls to break from tradition and skip the annual St. Patrick's Day festivities at the White House.

The Irish Prime Minister, or Taoiseach, usually presents a bowl of shamrocks to the US President, a tradition that began in 1952 when the Irish ambassador to the US sent President Harry Truman a box of the clovers.

But an online petition in Ireland, entitled, "Shamrocks for Trump, not in my name," has almost 40,000 signatures since it was launched in January.

O'Malley weighs in

On Tuesday, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, whose ancestors were Irish, launched another petition calling on Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny and Irish-American members of Congress to skip the White House event.

SIGN the petition: #NoShamrocks for immigrant bashers like @realDonaldTrump or white supremacists like Bannon https://t.co/Qs3cKZ4bob — Martin O'Malley (@MartinOMalley) February 28, 2017

Partially quoting the 1916 Irish proclamation of independence, the petition reads, "The enduring symbol of the United States of America is not the barbed wire fence, it is the Statue of Liberty. So please, 'in the name of God and of the dead generations from which Ireland receives her old tradition of nationhood,' boycott Trump's St. Patrick's Day gathering at the White House.'"

"We are not a deportation nation that breaks up immigrant families and separates parents from their children," O'Malley said in the petition.

Partisan politics

Ciaran Staunton, the head of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform in the US, said he strongly disagreed with O'Malley petition.

"It's totally unnecessary to drag partisan politics into a national holiday," he told CNN.

"While I am totally opposed to Trump's immigration orders, St. Patrick's Day is an important opportunity for Irish-Americans to explain the problems in the Irish-American community," Staunton said.

Kenny hasn't responded to O'Malley's petition, and plans are in place for the visit to go ahead. CNN has contacted Kenny's office for comment.

Irish America

Some of the opposition political parties in Ireland have also called on Kenny to boycott the visit. The leader of the Irish Labour Party said Trump does not share Irish values.

Last month, Kenny told reporters at a press conference in Dublin that while he disagreed with Trump's travel ban, he would visit the White House.

"I think it's more important now than ever before that we speak face-to-face with the American president and explain to him the issues and the matters of importance here," he said.

Kenny criticized Trump when he was a candidate, saying in the Irish parliament in May 2016, "if Trump's comments are racist and dangerous, which they are, there is an alternative to vote for."

According to the latest Census figures, more than 33 million Americans claim Irish heritage. There are an estimated 50,000 undocumented Irish people living in the United States.