Money Ban Mistake

The Brehon Law Society of Nassau County, New York wishes to register its deep disappointment at the ill-advised decision by the U.S. State Department to tie a fundraising restriction to the visa issued to Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams for a trip which was to have taken place last week to our country.

During his trip Adams was to have addressed Irish American supporters of his party and receive a peace prize from a prestigious foreign policy institute whose efforts to persuade the State Department to allow Adams’ entry to this country in the 1990s fostered a dialogue which led directly to the end of the 30 year old war in Ireland and real hope for a political solution to the centuries old conflict over Ireland’s sovereignty.

The people who gathered last week in New York and at other venues to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Sinn Fein, Ireland’s oldest political party, had hoped to hear a first hand report from that party’s president about Sinn Fein’s recent successes in furthering the Irish peace process.

The most recent and truly historic successes have included the declaration by the IRA in July that it was standing down and dedicating itself to exclusively peaceful means of furthering Irish Republican aims. This was followed in September by the decommissioning and destruction of its entire arsenal under the observation of an international commission created under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement for that purpose.

The Good Friday Agreement is an agreement with the status of an international treaty. It was negotiated by the Irish and British governments, and by the major Northern Ireland political parties, including, most significantly, Sinn Fein, and ratified by the huge majority of the voters in both parts of Ireland in 1998.

The negotiations which produced the agreement were brokered by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, who was sent to Ireland for that purpose by President Bill Clinton.

The implementation of that agreement has been a long, delicate and difficult process, furthered greatly by the encouragement and support of both the Clinton and Bush administrations in the years since 1998.

It is no exaggeration to say that the process would not have begun, or survived, without the initial efforts of Clinton and his envoy Mitchell, and the later efforts of President Bush and his successive envoys Richard Haass and Mitchell Reiss.

It is for this reason that we and other Irish American supporters of the peace process and our country’s vital role in it are so dismayed by the fundraising ban.

We had expected more from the White House than allowing itself to be manipulated by political rivals of Sinn Fein into helping them deliver a cheap, partisan political snub at the expense of the peace process.

Our government’s involvement in resolving the conflict has been so valuable for the very reason that it went to pains to treat all parties on an equal footing. That value has now, sadly, been greatly compromised.

Robert P. Lynch, Vice President Brehon Law Society Nassau, Williston Park, New York

Obscene Irish

Ireland's Celtic Tiger roar is laced with obscenities. Having recently returned from a vacation in our dear land, I was saddened beyond belief after hearing such a rampant use of curse words.

Everywhere I went profanity seemed to be the order of the day, with either sex as proficient as the other imparting their profane words.

Nor did it seem to matter a whit whether it was within earshot of young and old. It was a no holds barred, uncensored, anything goes form of communicating.

When I was a young lad growing up on the South Side of Dublin, I well remember men tipping their hats when meeting the opposite sex, and always watching their language when in the company of women and children.

We have been told for generations that Dublin produces the best in spoken English. Alas, today, walk any of Dublin’s streets or ride its transportation, you can’t expect to hear the King’s English. An earful of expletives will more than likely accompany your journey.

As I traveled Ireland’s highways and byways I witnessed the same jarring realization. I was in a far different vocal arena than what we were used to not too many years back.

Ireland, what’s happening to you? Has your well-deserved prosperity put you astride a bountiful Tiger that will eventually devour a dialogue that was the envy of the English speaking world?

The pundits for years have said if the word “no” was taken out of the English language, Ian Paisley would be rendered speechless.

That prompts the following question — if the “f” word was likewise taken out of the language, then on an equitable comparison most of the rest of Ireland would be rendered speechless!

Bartle Ryan, Elizabeth, New Jersey

Behavior a Disgrace

I find the weekly “Ireland’s Eye” page to be a great indicator of what’s going on throughout the country.

It is amazing the amount of random, senseless violence and drug use that goes on in Ireland. It is also seemingly treated as normal behavior.

The piece “Hellish Halloween” in the November 9-15 issue said it all. “Gardai (police) in North Co. Kerry were inundated with complaints from the public after thugs and vandals used the Halloween celebrations as an excuse to terrorize householders and engage in mindless vandalism,” said the report.

What is happening in Ireland? You don’t see half the kinds of crimes over there happening over here.

The so-called Celtic Tiger in Ireland has obviously forgotten about a lot of people who have nothing better to do than rob, get drunk and terrorize the rest of the population. What a shame, and such a change from the Ireland of old.

Helen Monroe, Norwalk, Connecticut

Bush’s Totem Pole

The ban on U.S. fundraising for Adams proves that the Bush administration hasn’t a clue when it comes to Northern Ireland. Actually, the case could be made that Bush hasn’t a clue when it comes to any country in the world, but that’s beside the point.

Imagine the glee of Ian Paisley and his followers when Bush ruled that Adams couldn’t attend the Friends of Sinn Fein fundraising dinner in New York. He played right into the hands of hardline Unionists who would give anything to see Adams fail, or better yet, humiliated.

Northern Ireland is way down on the Bush totem pole, as this decision clearly shows. Adams and his party — one of the largest in the whole of Ireland — are the catalysts of peace in Ireland, yet Adams is shunned for all of his efforts.

Perhaps Bush and his neocons would prefer guns and bombs in Belfast. That’s what they seem to be promoting in Iraq.

James H. Doran, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

No More Church

I am saddened by what has been happening in the Catholic church in Ireland. I think every one of those priests accused should be jailed for life. No amount of money can make up for the pain they have caused so many innocent souls.

The church over there is a law unto itself. Imagine harboring known child predators, and actually encouraging this deviant behavior. That’s what many in the church did over there, for many, many years.

I am from Clare, and I will never, ever step foot in a Catholic church again. I believe in God, but I don’t need to support a corrupt institution to prove this.

Mary Anne Carroll-Ryan, Roanoke, Virginia