By Joan Bolger

OPPONENTS of the fundraising ban on Sinn Fein visas to the U.S. are optimistic that it may now be lifted following the Bush administration's positive response to Northern Ireland's Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) report last week.

In response to the IMC report last week, U.S. Special Envoy to Northern Ireland Mitchell Reiss said, “Combined with previous commission findings, it confirms that the IRA has undertaken to do what it said it would.”

Speaking to the Irish Voice about the ban, which permits entry by Sinn Fein politicians to the U.S., but refuses them the right to fundraise, Rita O'Hare Sinn Fein's representative in the U.S., said she was now “very hopeful that it would be reversed.”

“Obviously we would view the ban as being a profound mistake, in particular considering the strides that have been made and the fact that we have lived up to every one of our commitments,” she said.

O'Hare confirmed that Sinn Fein Leader Gerry Adams had applied for a U.S. visa for a planned trip in November to attend the annual Friends of Sinn Fein dinner at the Sheraton Hotel in New York on November 9, but that, as yet he had received no response.

Stephen Royster, a spokesperson at the State Department, had no comment to make about the issue at presstime.

Earlier in the week, State Department deputy spokes-man Tom Casey said that Reiss would attend the all-party talks in Scotland set for this week. He said the IMC report was “positive,” but echoed Reiss' concern over the continued paramilitary and criminal activities.

“I wouldn't say that this puts an end to the issue, but certainly it's a positive report and we welcome it,” Casey said.

William Tranghese, spokesman for Massa-chusetts Congressman Richard Neal, told the Irish Voice that Neal “had joined the Democrats and Republicans in Congress on several occasions to express his view to Reiss.”

“His message has been simple and straightforward. If Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness can raise money in London, there is no reason why they should not be allowed to raise money in the United States,” he said.

“The IMC report released last week reinforced Congressman Neal's belief that Sinn Fein is honoring its commitments in keeping its word. The time for the Bush administration to lift the Sinn Fein fundraising ban is long overdue,” he added.

It is expected that Neal and his counterparts will present the issue to Reiss when Congress reconvenes after the November 7 elections.

Reiss said the U.S. remains concerned over the security threat presented by “paramilitary and criminal activity among dissident Republicans and some Loyalist elements,” adding, “such activity has no place in a democratic society.”

The fundraising ban was imposed on Sinn Fein members last year in an apparent bid to pressure the party into joining the North's Policing Board.

At the time, Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams voiced his criticism of the move. “Our position on policing is very clear. The British government has agreed to honor certain commitments. I am committed if and when they do that, to deal with the issue. The visa issue, as I understand it, is absurd,” he said.

Sinn Fein have withheld their support for the North’s police force, the PSNI, because they claim reforms within the police force have not gone far enough and that operations have been politically motivated against them. However, Sinn Fein have said that they would review that policy if law and order powers are devolved.