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Egan crucial in keeping North peace talks on track after 9/11

Egan kept faith with Sinn Fein

By
NIALL O'DOWD,
IrishCentral.Com Publisher

Published Saturday, August 29, 2009, 9:36 AM
Updated Monday, March 1, 2010, 12:54 PM

 

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Sinn Fein asked United States ambassador Richard Egan to attend the party's September ard fheis to signal to the rank and file that the US did not intend to shut them out of the negotiating process.

The request was made through Sinn Fein's US representative, Rita O'Hare, when the party was still reeling from the fallout to the arrest of three republicans in Colombia and the World Trade Center attack.

The Bush administration granted the request. This contradicts British newspaper reports that Egan was reprimanded for attending the ard fheis as an observer.

"It was a crucial signal that the US approach was one of absolute inclusivity," said O'Hare last week.

"It was vital that the US continue its role as honest broker and not take sides and Richard Egan's presence proved that. It had a huge effect on our membership that the US was not turning on us."

O'Hare said there had been attempts by the British Information Office in America to link Sinn Fe´in to Osama bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda network and to make them "untouchable" for the US government.

Last Tuesday, US Secretary of State Colin Powell told Sinn Fe´in's chief negotiator Martin McGuinness that the US would continue to stay involved with the Northern Ireland peace process, despite the attention being paid to Afghanistan. In his inner sanctum next to the State Department's Treaty Room, Powell told McGuinness that the Irish breakthrough was "a ray of light" at a very dark time for Americans.

"Now that we have things moving forward, we know they will still need attention from us. You have my commitment on that," said Powell.

Earlier, the Sinn Fein delegation consisting of McGuinness, O'Hare and Aidan McAteer, an aide to McGuinness, had met Richard Haas, the Bush administration's special envoy on Ireland.

Also present was Rosemary O'Neill, daughter of the late Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill, and now a senior State Department official, and Frank Kerber, who heads the Irish desk at the department.

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