Why U.S.-Ireland Alliance should be de-funded

Even before Stanage's article ran, Vargo sent out an email to every politician in Ireland highlighting the piece, proclaiming that the old leadership in Irish America was over and she alone represented the new leadership.

Who is Trina Vargo? She is the woman who wrote an op-ed piece for the Irish Times last year proclaiming that trying to help young Irish undocumented was akin to "putting lipstick on a pig." She and Stanage clearly collaborated on the Irish Times article.

Welcome to a new generation of leadership, a writer of Unionist background who slams Irish American organizations at every opportunity, and a Portuguese American who compares Irish to pigs and heads an organization that about 99% of Irish Americans have never heard of.

What is the U.S.-Ireland Alliance? In addition to the government funding it receives, it is also funded by private sources -- mainly the property speculators in Ireland who have brought the country to the brink of ruin.

Over here, well-meaning congressmen like Pete King and Joe Crowley have helped it get funding from American taxpayers every year. That should end.

Back in Ireland the alliance continues to take funds from the Irish government, despite the horrific recession that has left the country on its knees. If you ask Irish people they would be sure to say that funding American students to come to Ireland is not their priority right now.

Irish Americans need to mobilize here and end the funding from America for this group that now purports to treat us like idiots and as completely out of touch.

The Irish government should re-prioritize too and tell the U.S.-Ireland Alliance enough is enough, and spend taxpayer money on better issues. Maybe then the message will get through to the likes of Unionist tradition Stanage and “lipstick on a pig” Vargo that Irish Americans are not so easily duped and misled.

​
Nster.com