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Home Page > News > United States visa ban on Tim Pat Coogan removed after Senator Schumer steps in

United States visa ban on Tim Pat Coogan removed after Senator Schumer steps in

Irish author gets ten year visa after Irish Americans rally to his cause

NIALL O'DOWD,

IrishCentral Founder

Published Wednesday, November 28, 2012, 7:16 AM

Updated Wednesday, November 28, 2012, 9:47 AM

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Irish author Tim Pat Coogan has received a ten year non-immigrant visa after new York Senator Chuck Schumer directly intervened with the U.S. State Department.

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Irish author Tim Pat Coogan has received a ten year non-immigrant visa to come to the U.S. after New York Senator Chuck Schumer directly intervened with the U.S. State Department.

There was widespread outrage when IrishCentral and the Irish Voice revealed last week that Coogan had been denied.

In a statement, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer said that, "after a personal push, renowned Irish author and historian Tim Pat Coogan will finally be granted a visa, allowing him to come back to the United States for a long-scheduled book tour."

Coogan had been denied a visa twice by the United States Embassy in Dublin, with no explanation. Yesterday Schumer weighed in, sending a letter to the State Department, urging them to quickly reconsider their decision.

Schumer cited Coogan’s long standing support of the United States and his highly-praised work.

“Mr. Coogan is an Irish treasure, a gifted author, a noted historian and a long standing supporter of the United States – our country should be rolling out the red carpet for him, not slamming the door in his face,” said Schumer.

“I look forward to welcoming him back to our country, and I am glad the State Department has corrected their mistake.”

In the letter, Schumer also wrote, “I write to express my concern regarding the recent U.S. State Department action of denying noted author, Timothy Pat Coogan, from coming to America for a book tour. I would urge the State department to reconsider this denial and expeditiously resolve this matter.”

Schumer’s move has resulted in a ten-year visa for Coogan who was informed by the U.S. Embassy directly on Tuesday morning.

Responding to the news, Tim Pat Coogan stated:

“I would like to thank IrishCentral and the Irish Voice, Senator Schumer and the thousands of Irish Americans who protested successfully at my being refused a Visa to enter the United States.
In fact I was refused two Esta Visa waivers it transpires, not one, by, it emerges, Homeland Security.

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32 Comments

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curtisjohnson | Dec 05, 2012, 10:42 PM EST

@puffy Interesting how anything that is not written to minimize/exculpate british atrocities is somehow considered unscholarly. What are these "peer reviews" by "historians" to which you refer - are they published in journals?

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seanomelb | Nov 30, 2012, 06:04 PM EST

PUFFIN! The truth is not subject to bias only fact.

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puffin | Nov 30, 2012, 07:45 AM EST

Coogan is a journalist and writer,who makes a few bob,in North America and the best of luck to him,I have not read his latest,it has not arrived at my public library yet,but I have read the peer reviews by historians and it has to be said they were less than impressed,Coogan tells one side that is his perogative,but no way could you say he is unbiased.

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IrelandNorth | Nov 30, 2012, 06:58 AM EST

Quite obviously the Rt Hon US Sen Schumer took the trouble to read Tim[othy] Pat[rick] Coogan's - The Famine Plot: England's Role in Ireland's Greatest Tragedy, or one of his other previously published works. Having purchased a copy of TPCs - TFP:EsRiIsGT, it's unputdownable and characteristically objective throughout. Coogan's claims are no bluff, thought bound to be troublesome for those uncomfortable with inconvenient historical truths.

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cillowen | Nov 29, 2012, 05:28 PM EST

Obamar thought he was doing right by our Master - tribe member Schumer just set him and team straight. That's what that was all about the usurpation of words genocide and holocaust being the wording that tribe deemed being theirs snared Pat by Amer Embassy exclude keywords listing.

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puffin | Nov 29, 2012, 02:45 PM EST

publicity stunt

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seamus60 | Nov 29, 2012, 02:28 PM EST

Pilib04. Of course I jest. Then man could not be trusted to admit he is the real Gerry Adams. Though he and King go back a long way. With even their attitudes on human rights issues swaying in tandem.

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pilib04 | Nov 29, 2012, 12:00 PM EST

Apparently EdmundBurke has the earliest manifestation of this famous quote "The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance." Curran and Jefferson are contemporaries. Quite possible for Jefferson to paraphrase in his speeches and then get printed later without attribution to Curran.

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pilib04 | Nov 29, 2012, 11:55 AM EST

Apparently my post disappeared. The "Jefferson Monticello"{ credits the quote to Jefferson. The earliest know quote in print is 1817 "eternal vigilance is the price we pay for liberty." Earliest known attribution to Jefferson is 1834. Mr. Jefferson, has told us, that "the price of Liberty is eternal vigilance."

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pilib04 | Nov 29, 2012, 11:48 AM EST

If Zionists were blocking Tim Pat's visit to the states, I surely doubt that Senator Chuck Schumer would have intervened. Please find another conspiracy theory.

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pilib04 | Nov 29, 2012, 11:42 AM EST

Seamus60, Gerry Adams TD as a go between, surely you jest. Gerry was a victim of the DHS no-fly list while he was in the USA visiting the President and Congress. I doubt he would be the proper go between. My guess remains that the Anglophile U.S. Dept. of State was up to their dirty tricks. All U.S. Presidents have had to deal with the lifers at State.

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occassio | Nov 29, 2012, 10:50 AM EST

Through a deeper dive it might be that there are other factors. But, Mr. Coogan did say it was DHS, which was the comment I made in my post last week. If it reads Department of Homeland Security, it generally smacks of Janet Napolitano who doesn’t seem to use or understand the word, discretion. There is no rhyme or reason to the DHS and, as a security organization, it seems easier for them to authorize the pat down of nuns, the elderly, children or leukemia patients than to create a more effective method of screening and trace detection. In the past and perhaps currently, genital and breast areas are not immune from pat downs. If this would prove the most efficient method of preventing an attack on American soil, I’d submit to one myself. But, these methods do nothing to protect us on a wider front, in sea ports, along coast lines, biochemical intrusion, computer hacking, etc. I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Boston99 and his comments about Israel. President Michael D. Higgins said much the same in his book, Causes for Concern. There are too many facts that will accord with his opinion.

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Joe Kelsall | Nov 29, 2012, 10:18 AM EST

Feck me! There is NO chance of me getting a US visa! I am amazed as to how he got his criticism of Israel publicised. The US media is proven to be under Zionist control. See Johan Galtung on the Jews and the USA press.

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seamus60 | Nov 29, 2012, 10:13 AM EST

All representation on Coogans behalf is to be rightfully praised. I sincerely hope the same who have afforded Coogan the same will now turn their attention as to why this happened in the first place and to what or who`s agenda. Perhaps Niall and others will now approach one Peter King from Homeland security to get answers. Failing that perhaps Gerry Adams would make himself available as a go between as he done during the Hungerstrikes.

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Mr. Boston99 | Nov 28, 2012, 04:49 PM EST

Mr. Coogan was denied for the only reason anyone is ever denied entry into the USA. he was publically critical of Israel. He wrote an article critical of Israeli's handling of the Gaza flotilla a few years ago. No criticism of Israel is permitted. It is blatant hypocrisy that Schumer -- one of the most egregious of the Israel Firsters in the American senate -- comes riding in as the hero.

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