Bush Pledges Support Irish Peace In National Interest

Posted By: March 29, 2013

Washington, D.C., St .Patrick’s Day, March 17 2001—— Concern about President Bush’s attitude towards the Irish issue was finally put to rest at the White House on March 16 2001. The President gave his assurance that the US would continue to be involved in promoting peace in Ireland :” It is in our national interest that there be peace, a real lasting peace, in Northern Ireland”, President Bush told a gathering of Irish, British and Irish-American leaders .

Fr. Sean Mc Manus, President of the Capitol Hill-based Irish National Caucus, who was one of the invited guests at the White House , said he was delighted by the President’s statement: “All of us were delighted by what the President said. It did the job perfectly . When a Republican President says that peace in Ireland is in ” our national interest ” he can not put it any stronger. In the American Republican tradition , nothing is higher than the “national interest”, he explained.

Father Mc Manus – – while emphasizing that the Caucus is neither Democrat nor Republican –went on to explain the importance of the Irish-American vote to the Republican Party:

” For the first time in over 100 years , the Republican Party has the perfect opportunity to capture the high-ground on the Irish issue and lock in the Irish vote”, he said. ” The fact is that since 1995 the Republican-controlled Congress has had an excellent record on Ireland. It was after all the Republicans who passed the Mac Bride Principles into US law–to their undying credit. But because Bill Clinton had the bully pulpit — and because he had done unprecedented good work for Ireland — the Republicans did not receive sufficient credit for their good work. But now all that can change. George W. Bush has the bully-pulpit and if he does the right thing, Republicans can really shore up the Irish-American vote”, he concluded.