Niall O'dowd
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9781846310652
- eISBN:
- 9781846314155
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/UPO9781846314155.007
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
This chapter presents an insider's account of the Irish peace process. The author, as editor of the main Irish–American newspaper, The Irish Voice, was dismayed at attitudes in Ireland as well as ...
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This chapter presents an insider's account of the Irish peace process. The author, as editor of the main Irish–American newspaper, The Irish Voice, was dismayed at attitudes in Ireland as well as Britain, which dismissed all Irish–Americans as too ‘green’ or too ‘republican’, and excluded those with real influence who were genuinely seeking to assist the peace process in Northern Ireland. He cites the cases of the Birmingham Six, the Guildford Four, and the MacBride Principles (seeking to establish fair employment practices in Northern Ireland) as issues where Ireland simply followed British advice and froze out Irish–America. Irish–Americans remained powerless under both Ronald Reagan and George Bush Senior because of the strength of the ‘special relationship’ with Britain. By 1992, with Clinton at the White House, the Irish–American lobby was in a position to act legitimately as the ‘third party’.Less
This chapter presents an insider's account of the Irish peace process. The author, as editor of the main Irish–American newspaper, The Irish Voice, was dismayed at attitudes in Ireland as well as Britain, which dismissed all Irish–Americans as too ‘green’ or too ‘republican’, and excluded those with real influence who were genuinely seeking to assist the peace process in Northern Ireland. He cites the cases of the Birmingham Six, the Guildford Four, and the MacBride Principles (seeking to establish fair employment practices in Northern Ireland) as issues where Ireland simply followed British advice and froze out Irish–America. Irish–Americans remained powerless under both Ronald Reagan and George Bush Senior because of the strength of the ‘special relationship’ with Britain. By 1992, with Clinton at the White House, the Irish–American lobby was in a position to act legitimately as the ‘third party’.
