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Inside File Green for the GOP

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

By Ray O’Hanlon

Irish Americans will be hard at it in Philadelphia this week reminding the Bush-Cheney team that Irish-American votes are both vital and available to the GOP in November, particularly if the nominees signal that Ireland will be a primary foreign policy consideration in a George W. Bush administration.

Bush’s main foreign policy adviser is Condoleeza Rice and "IF" is aware that she has been approached in recent days by Rep. James Walsh, chairman of the Friends of Ireland, and briefed on a variety of Irish issues by the upstate New Yorker. This is an important step because, as previously reported, Rice covered the globe in an assessment of GOP foreign policy in an issue of Foreign Affairs magazine earlier this year without once mentioning Northern Ireland.

In addition to GOP Irish-American legislators, the Irish issues are also being vocally pressed in Philly by two groups, the National Assembly of Irish-Americans and "Irish for Bush," an election-year arrival that is currently working to establish branches in all 50 states.

Irish for Bush began its campaign effort Monday evening at Finnegan’s Wake with what it described as a Daniel O’Connell-style "Monster Rally" in support of George W. The rally coincided with a somewhat lower key reception in honor of Irish-American GOP members of Congress hosted by the National Assembly of Irish-American Republicans. It will be interesting to see what emerges in the GOP election platform in the wake of all this effort.

Irish ears will also be tuned closely to Bush’s acceptance speech on Thursday night to see if he says in words what his campaign put down on paper prior to the New York primary earlier in the year. Bush pledged a level of commitment to Northern Ireland that some viewed as exceeding even that of President Clinton. Neither main party can take the Irish-American vote as an absolute gimme anymore, hence the ever increasing efforts by Irish American Republicans and Democrats alike to inject a few green balloons into all the red, white and blue ones that signal a convention’s conventional climax.

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Ryan steps out

Never mind about the presidency. Carolyn Ryan has stepped down as Executive Director of the Emerald Isle Immigration Center in New York and is being replaced by Regina Robinson, a Brooklyn native and graduate of Columbia University. Ryan has taken a position with the New Jersey-based Irish American Cultural Institute, although she will retain a seat on the board of Emerald Isle.

Anne Marie Scanlon, meanwhile, is the new Deputy Director of EIIC. Scanlon is originally from Donegal and has a working background concentrated heavily in the arts and media.

UN retreat

Ireland’s record as a supplier of troops for United Nations peacekeeping missions around the world is a proud one, so it was with some interest that "IF" read a recent story in the Irish Times penned by Lt. Gen. Gerry McMahon. McMahon is a recently retired chief-of-staff of the Irish defense forces and is obviously a man of informed opinion when it comes to the matter of Irish soldiers defending peace in troubled parts of the world.

McMahon was clearly perturbed over recent indications from the Irish government that it would be scaling back Irish participation in UN operations over the next few years. Looming large in the government’s plan is the Irish contingent in UNIFIL, the force that has been in South Lebanon for over 20 years.

McMahon reckons that missions such as the Lebanese ones are the best proving grounds for young Irish soldiers who would ordinarily see little active duty in Ireland itself. He sees little point in having a highly trained army with no place to go. "It is the sporting equivalent of having a team trained to peak condition without ever playing in a match. It will soon collapse," McMahon wrote.

There is another aspect to all this beyond the purely military. Ireland is eager to secure one of the revolving seats on the UN Security Council. A vote on new members is scheduled for New York in October. The Irish case for inclusion is coming under increasing pressure from several countries, particularly Italy and Norway. In his analysis, McMahon stuck to the military and didn’t veer too deeply into politics. He didn’t mention the Security Council at all. But it would seem particularly ill-timed for a government to be pursuing an enhanced political role in the United Nations while at the same time sending signals that the same body should look elsewhere for troops next time peace goes belly-up in a corner of our troubled world.

Flag folly

"IF" has just returned from a sojourn in the auld sod, a trip that included some motoring north of the border, mostly in County Down. The weather was so good that one paper ran with a headline "Ulster Scorcher" and was not in fact referring to the North’s tortuous politics.

The temperature was in fact soaring into the 70s, which is all you need in these parts for people to start complaining about "the heat."

With the lovely weather and the place more or less peaceful in the aftermath of the July 12th, er, festivities, the county looked, on the surface at least, like an easy sell to the choosy tourist, what with the Mountains of Mourne tumbling down to the sea, some fine beaches for the kids to scamper along, very pleasant rolling countryside and well-maintained roads not nearly as crowded as the highways of the booming Republic.

Obviously, much effort goes into luring tourists into particular towns and villages where they can be persuaded to part with their hard-earned pounds, dollars, francs etc.

Some towns did this quite well. Newcastle was one. It was bustling when a thirsty "IF" roared in under a sun that was, well, scorching. Other settlements in contrast were not nearly so alluring. These were the ones that chose to adorn themselves with flags. "IF" did not spot a single tricolor along the way, but a number of hamlets were sporting large numbers of Union and Red Hand of Ulster flags. The effect was not particularly intimidating, but it did prompt "IF" to keep on driving to the next town in search of ice cream and the drop of lemonade for the thirsty weens in the back. It must have prompted others too, because the flag-adorned outposts were largely bereft of parked cars. Talk about how to kill business in one flag swoop.

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