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Hillary Clinton makes Ireland a priority

Talks about need to address undocumented Irish issue

By
NIALL O'DOWD,
Irish Central.com Publisher

Published Thursday, October 15, 2009, 9:26 AM
Updated Thursday, October 22, 2009, 1:46 PM

 

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Hillary Clinton: High praise for the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform's work on behalf of the undocumented Irish
Hillary Clinton: High praise for the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform's work on behalf of the undocumented Irish

SECRETARY of State Hillary Clinton has made it crystal clear in her visit to Ireland that she and the Obama administration are giving the Irish peace process a very high priority indeed.

It is also very welcome that she dropped the ludicrous “no special deal” nonsense when she talked about the undocumented Irish and the need to address that issue.

She stated she had been impressed with the efforts of the Irish lobby to win immigration reform, and that it can happen in the context of overall comprehensive legislation. That is welcome news for the undocumented Irish community.

The very fact of her visit to Ireland, at a time of much international tumult, is a clear indication of how important the issue is to the secretary of state.

It certainly belies the criticism by some badly uninformed media commentators and “leaders” in Ireland and the U.S. that Clinton would show little interest in Irish issues during her time in office.

Yet she managed almost two days in Ireland in the midst of shepherding a major agreement between Turkey and Armenia, taking Iran to task over their nuclear weapons program, warning North Korea over their latest efforts to carry out missile tests, and an all-day conference with President Obama on the issue of Afghanistan and Pakistan to spend very significant time in Ireland.

As always with Clinton, her message was concise and to the point. She told the Northern Ireland Assembly that everyone needed to get on board the new policing and justice bill, which will result in such powers being devolved to the Assembly in Northern Ireland from the control of the British government.

The Democratic Unionist Party have dragged their feet on this issue, leading to a dangerous vacuum at an unstable time in Northern Ireland.

The combined efforts of the Irish and British governments and now the U.S. government appears to be bearing fruit. The sides are said to be close to a breakthrough in the most vital matter still impacting the success of the peace process.

Clinton also had harsh words for the dissident IRA groups that are still trying to scuttle the peace process, scorning their efforts as vicious attempts to drive Ireland back into the past.

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