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Hillary Clinton, President Obama, to back up new Northern Ireland deal

By
PATRICK ROBERTS,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Saturday, February 6, 2010, 7:05 AM
Updated Saturday, February 6, 2010, 8:28 AM

 

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Clinton with Martin McGuinness and Peter Robinson
Clinton with Martin McGuinness and Peter Robinson

Hillary Clinton will welcome Northern Ireland leaders Peter Robinson of the Democratic Unionist Party and Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein to the United States in mid February, where plans for an economic development conference for Northern Ireland will be put together.

In addition, the White House announced that both McGuinness and Robinson will be at the White House on St. Patrick's Day to meet with President Obama and discuss the ongoing American role in the Irish peace process.

The American open-arms welcome comes after the two parties agreed a way forward in Northern Ireland after 10 days of gruelling negotiations.

It emerged yesterday that Secretary of State Clinton was deeply involved in the final days of the negotiations and had numerous calls with the key players on both sides, as well as the British and Irish governments.

The plans for the economic development conference are expected to be announced after the meetings in Washington with Robinson and McGuinness. A conference in the fall in Washington is among the ideas being presented, in addition to further high profile visits to Northern Ireland by the US special envoy Declan Kelly.

Speaking after the announcement of the breakthrough Clinton said the US was ready to help.

"The people of Northern Ireland are poised to build a thriving society on this stronger foundation," she said.

"Our economic envoy, Declan Kelly, will continue working to help Northern Ireland reap the dividends of peace, including economic growth, international investment, and new opportunities.

"In the near future, Declan and I will host First Minister Robinson and Deputy First Minister McGuinness here in Washington.”

In his statement President Obama said the agreement, reached by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Fein on the devolution of policing and justice power from London to Northern Ireland, "is an important step on the pathway to greater peace and prosperity for all communities on the island."

Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Brian Cowen said the agreement was "an essential step for peace, stability and security in Northern Ireland" which laid the foundations for a better future.

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6 Comments

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Posted by Spiritranger on Feb 12, 2010, 02:49 PM EST
God bless you, lass, few know the real agenda behind our lost rights and creeping socialism. Too many lefties still believing in the utopian dream of a perfect government nanny to rule their lives (read Brave New World, 1984 and Animal Farm, lefties). It's time to wake people up.
Report abuse
Posted by Madeleine on Feb 10, 2010, 08:54 PM EST
Watchman: Obama is not to blame for what has happened to our country since Woodrow wilson, this has been a planned socist agenda dating back to the Federal Reserve, Obama promised to fix that, with hope and change, well he got the change part right , we have gone to hell in a handbasket in a very short time, thanks to Obama and the CFR. Pass-the--buck Obama is the one who just spent like a drunken sailor and did everything against our constitutional laws that he could do, that will be addressed shortly. He is not in a position to help anyone, he is in over his head and he doesn't know what he is doing. The american people will not go gently into the good night, he should have known that. He should also have known that we don't have 57 states in the Union as he stated in one of his million speeches, its 50.
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Posted by kickstar on Feb 06, 2010, 07:01 PM EST
The more I look at this picture the more I wonder just what is Hilary thinking...Or what was the joke?..It is a truly great picture but it really does raise some questions...lol.
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Posted by Watchman on Feb 06, 2010, 12:10 PM EST
SR: You're very hard on Obama. It's as if you think America's history of economic decline began on January 20th last year. You don't even mention the massive contribution of George W Bush and Dick Cheney, or the outrageous behaviour of Wall Street. I agree with you that Oam needs to up his game considerably to deal with the problems that now exist, but he didn't create the crisis, he inherited it. As for Northern Ireland, it's another new chapter in an old story that, while it takes us a little further forward, provides no more than an opportunity for change. In Belfast, too, they need to get their act together. They've dealt with the past, now let's see how they manage the future.
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Posted by Spiritranger on Feb 06, 2010, 09:45 AM EST
Hmmmm, I am troubled that the most clueless foreign policy and economics policy presidential administration since Jimmy Carter is going to be mediating this. They have all but destroyed the peace process in the Middle East, destroyed the US economy with their stimulus baloney and wreaked moral havoc everywhere else they have gotten involved(Copenhagen, Healthcare, Iran Nukes, Gay Military, etc.). If the leaders in Northern Ireland were sane (and truly repentant of their past intolerance) they would drop the American "intervention" and meet on their own terms in London or Dublin. I smell a rat, I suppose the Obama-ites are going to dump a billion US dollars into Northern Ireland to "stimulate" the process -- that's how they think and explains Northern Ireland's zeal to meet on US terms and soil. Yikes, God help us all!
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Posted by kickstar on Feb 06, 2010, 09:24 AM EST
Well it sounds like good news....Here's hoping. I think the ordinary sane people of Northern Ireland have already made the leap and really the political parties on this occasion are following that lead.
 


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