By Ray O’Hanlon
The inclusion of a wide-ranging statement on Ireland in the Republican Party’s election platform has been a source of satisfaction for many GOP members, among them Rep. James Walsh.
"I’m thrilled that our party has made such a strong statement. It’s really good news," the chairman of the Friends of Ireland group in Congress said.
"All along I was hoping there would be no Jim Baker statements at the convention this time around."
He was referring to the GOP convention four years ago in San Diego, where former Secretary of State James Baker angered many Irish Americans with a vociferous attack on President Clinton’s Irish policies.
Before the 2000 Platform was finalized, Walsh, along with members of the National Assembly of Irish American Republicans and the Irish For Bush campaign group, met with leading GOP policy leaders, including Gov. Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin, the chairman of the Platform Committee, and Condoleezza Rice, George W. Bush’s main foreign policy adviser.
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"There was a lot of back and forth but they were very receptive," Walsh said. "It was quickly evident that Gov. Thompson gets it with regard to Ireland."
At the outset, however, some Irish American activists were concerned that the final platform’s Irish content might not be as expansive as many hoped it would be.
One source close to the backroom negotiations said that in its initial form, the statement did not contain any reference to the Patten Commission on police reform in Northern Ireland, the power-sharing government there, nor the cases of the deportees and California-based extraditees.
With the deportees and extradition cases there were, according to the source, immediate humanitarian concerns but also some fear that the party might end up dealing with some "bad pennies." But those fears were quickly assuaged.
"Still, we weren’t sure up to the last minute if the Irish position would move beyond what it was at the beginning of the year, but it clearly did. All the three main areas of concern were included in the final draft," the source said.
Brian McCarthy, New York State chapter president of the National Assembly of Irish American Republicans, said that the outcome should boost the GOP’s appeal to Irish-American voters.
"In the past, the party tended to side with England over Ireland and especially with Mrs. Thatcher," McCarthy, a Manhattan-based attorney, said.
Rep. Ben Gilman, chairman of the House International Relations Committee, also welcomed the platform statement, "particularly," he said, "the timely call for full implementation of all the Patten Commission policing reforms."
One particularly pleased observer of the sea change in the GOP leadership’s attitude to Ireland was Rep. Peter King.
Because he had backed John McCain in the primaries, the Long Islander did not take a high-profile role in the effort to turn party thinking his way in Philadelphia.
That said, King believes that the outcome was "a great statement that really covers every aspect of the Irish issue."
"This is a solid victory for Irish peace and shows that the GOP is absolutely committed to peace in Ireland," he said. "It’s light years away from what the attitude at the top of the party used to be."