Stormontgate Embarrasses Reiss

CAPITOL HILL. December 9, 2005 — Dr. Mitchell Reiss,
Special Envoy for Northern Ireland, was recently badly hurt
by the ridiculous U.S decision to ban Gerry Adams from
fundraising on his planned visit to New York.

Now Dr. Reiss has suffered another blow to his previously
very fine record: the collapse of the Spy Ring case, which
was used by the police to bring down the Northern Ireland
Assembly in October 2002.

Fr. Sean Mc Manus, president of the Capitol Hill-based
Irish National Caucus said:” Dr. Reiss, whom I have praised
many times, has spent a lot of time trying to promote the
Northern Ireland police. He has vigorously tried to
convince Irish-Americans that the bad old days were over
and that we should without reservation endorse the PSNI.
Well, I’m afraid our concerns have been justified. Some of
us tried to convince Dr. Reiss that the Mugabe-style, high-
media covered, raid on Sinn Fein offices was all about
destroying the Good Friday Agreement and pulling down the
Assembly, but he would not listen “.

Fr. Mc Manus went on to urge Dr. Reiss to use his good
offices to put pressure on the PSNI: ” I hope Dr. Reiss now
realizes he has been too naïve about the police — just
like so many others before him. There is a long history of
outsiders who finally had to admit that cleaning up the
Northern Ireland police was far more difficult than they
had previously thought”.

END