What’s good for South is good for North

Posted By: June 21, 2016

Letters to the Editor. Irish News (Belfast). Tuesday, June 21, 2016.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has appointed an ‘emigrant senator’ to the Irish Senate to represent the concerns of Irish immigrants in the US – Galway native, Billy Lawless in Chicago. This has been welcomed as a good idea.

Well, then – in the interest of equal treatment – shouldn’t someone in the US also be appointed to a position with the Northern Ireland Assembly to represent the concern of immigrants from Northern Ireland? Shouldn’t that, too, be welcomed as a good idea?

Irish-Americans certainly think it’s a good idea and are keen to get the discussion going. Let’s not have yet another example of a double-standards – if it is good for the 26-counties, it’s good for the six counties. Who can argue with that?

Certainly a very obvious candidate for such an appointment would be Fermanagh native Fr Sean McManus, president of the Washington-based Irish National Caucus. For more than 40 years Fr McManus has been one of the best known Irish immigrants in the US. He has a wealth of experience and knowledge from his work with the US Congress. No-one knows more about Northern Ireland than him.

If it is good for the south, it’s good for the north. No more double- standards. The First and Deputy First Ministers for should be the first to embrace the idea of such an appointment.

Mattie Reilly

Blauvelt, NY