Quinn Hails North’s Peaceful Holiday

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Irish Voice News

Quinn Hails North’s Peaceful Holiday

December 21, 2007

By Cahir O’Doherty

NEW York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn was in Northern Ireland last week for her third visit since becoming speaker in January 2006.

In Belfast Quinn met with Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams, as well as First Minister Ian Paisley and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, who both recently visited New York.

Quinn’s trip, which served to highlight and promote recent economic developments in the North, was the result of her personal pledge to support the new power sharing government.

“I have said in the past that if the decision was made by all parties to move toward real peace and lasting reform – and a real devolution of power – then we in New York City want to make sure that we support that,” Quinn told the Irish Voice on Tuesday.

“We want to help out in every way we can, particularly as it relates to economic development in the North. And I want to make good on that promise as they work toward their economic conference in May.”

Quinn was accompanied on the trip by her chief of staff Chuck Meara, and both paid for the trip out of their own pockets.

Quinn was last in Belfast in March 2007 when she led a four-member City Council contingent to Ireland during a trip paid for by the Committee on American-Irish Relations.

The process of community reconciliation has been greatly aided by the political process that is transforming the city, Quinn said.

“There is a real process going on in Northern Ireland right now and its remarkable. It’s about people rising above things that have separated them. It’s the perfect example of a true Christmas message,” she said.

Visiting the Irish language school Coláiste Feirste on the Falls Road in West Belfast, Quinn was excited by what she saw as the school’s potential as a marker of economic growth in the area.

“We were excited by the Coláiste Feirste school and its success but also by the possibility of working with this school to set up an exchange program with Fordham or CUNY – and also the idea of maybe doing some type of language immersion program. It would be an exciting way to try to help economic development in West Belfast,” the speaker added.

Quinn deflected some New York based critics who wondered how she could reconcile her interest in the peace process with her duties as speaker, saying, “New York is place with a deep history and connection to Ireland. Ireland is the gateway to Europe from an economic perspective and the degree to which it can do well north and south that’s a good thing.

“The most significant thing that I’m left with coming back from Belfast is a sense of hope. All of us in New York need to embrace any political process that brings hope to the world, because that is something that is in too short a supply and that we need to be reminded of in this city.”

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