February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Next Monday, on her first trip to Ireland as Secretary of State, Clinton’s most important accomplishment will be to try and find common ground on the policing and justice issues that have lately exposed political fissures in Northern Ireland.
Clinton will visit Belfast and Dublin on Columbus Day as well as London and Moscow during her week-long trip.
In London and Dublin, Clinton will engage in a series of discussions on a wide range of bilateral, transatlantic, and global issues.
In Belfast, according to the State Department, the Secretary will emphasize the U.S. commitment to the joint economic prosperity of Northern Ireland and the United States, as well as reaffirming unwavering U.S. support for Northern Ireland’s peace process.
The visits to Dublin and Belfast will each last a few hours. In Dublin, Clinton will meet President Mary McAleese, Taoiseach Brian Cowen, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Miche_l Martin.
Clinton recently met in New York with the North’s top ministers, Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness, and she will do so again during her brief stop in Belfast.