Delivering a keynote speech at the University of Ulster last week, he compared the Clinton economic initiative for the North’s peace process to the United States’ post-World War II Marshall Plan.
Lyons, now back in private law practice in Denver, had even harsher words for the Bush administration in a followup interview.
“George W. Bush has not done a damn thing for Northern Ireland,” Lyons said this week.
Perhaps even more galling than a lack of nurturing for the peace process, he continued, is the defense of the Bush administration’s attitude toward the Northern Ireland peace process by the GOP.
“They would have Irish Americans believe that this administration has somehow been supportive; that’s embarrassing, and Irish Americans will not be fooled,” he said.
Lyons reserved his harshest criticism for the current White House special advisor on Northern Ireland.
“He is simply a White House spokesman and an apologist for the whole Bush administration’s foreign policy,” Lyons said of the present special advisor, Dr. Mitchell Reiss. “I take offense at the notion that this individual [Reiss] has done anything to make any difference for the people of Northern Ireland. . . . He’s made maybe a couple of cosmetic trips to Northern Ireland where I made around 60.”
Reiss was appointed successor six months ago to Dr. Richard Haass, who was praised by Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams earlier this year.
“Richard Haass came with no profile on Ireland, but he learned very quickly. He will be a hard act to follow,” Adams said.
“But one of the big developments of the last 10 years is that [Ireland] has become one of the most positive and bipartisan policy issues in U.S. foreign policy,” Adams added.
However, after an initial “very warm” meeting, relations between Reiss and Sinn Fein deteriorated over the party’s failure to back the Policing Board in Northern Ireland.
Asked what the U.S. could do at this time, Lyons said it should fully fund this country’s portion of the International Fund for Ireland. Additionally, extra efforts should be made to shore up the economic programs put in place during the Clinton administration, such as the Springvale vocational project.
Lyons, who took over the special advisor’s role from former Sen. George Mitchell, also emphasized that it is ultimately leaders like Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams and the DUP’s Peter Robinson who will have to make the final effort to see that all the elements of the Good Friday agreement are implemented.
“And you know, considering just how stupid and misinformed George Bush is on foreign affairs, maybe it’s better that he hasn’t been involved in Northern Ireland,” concluded Lyons, who’s backing Sen. John Kerry’s presidential campaign.
Both the Bush administration and the Clinton White House agreed that future generations could hold up the Northern Ireland peace process as a blueprint for future conflict resolutions around the globe. But, unless there’s pro-active effort by the U.S. to lend support, Lyons warned, the blueprint will disappear.