WASHINGTON, D.C, OCTOBER 2 1995--The first Irish organization to
ever open an Office on Capitol Hill has welcomed news that the Ulster Unionist
Party is now going to open an Office in Washington D.C.
The Irish National Caucus--which opened its office on Human Rights Day,
December l0,1978--has said "it sees the Unionists initative as positive and
progressive".
The President of the Irish National Caucus Father Sean McManus said; "I
welcome the Unionists to Washington. Since 1978 we have been making the case
that human rights in Ireland is--legitimately and properly--an American issue.
The fact that the Unionists are now going to have an office in Washington,
shows that they too accept that the U.S. has an important role to play. I
am glad they have finally givcn up their abstentionist policy in relation
to the U.S."
"Opening an office in Washington will inevitability have profound implications
for the Unionist Party" Father McManus predicted. "Just as Sinn Feinn could
not function in Washington if it were to advocate a continuation of the armed
struggle, so, too, the Unionists will not be able to function in Washington
if they try to advocate the continuation of sectarianism and anti Catholic
discrimination in Northern Ireland."
"The Ulster Unionist Party will therefore have to committ itself to justice
and reconciliation", Father McManus said. "A 'Drumcree mentality' will not
win any friends on Capitol Hill. And just in case they think it would be
well received among Conservative Republicans, they had better think again.
There is no political constituency for overt anti-lrish Catholic bigotry
in the U.S. The Irish lobby
is too powerful to allow that. Furthermore, the Republican Party is making
an all-out effort to reach out to Catholics in the U.S."
