February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Though a statement of principles, the fair employment guidelines bearing the name of Dr. Sean MacBride were more than just a list of standards and directions.
As it turned out, they would be pointers to a greater society and better future for all the people of Northern Ireland. Though partition and the opposing desire for a united Ireland were at the heart of the years dominated by the Troubles, it was the deep-rooted inequality in Northern Ireland that was the fuse that lit the powder keg in the late 1960s.
It would be not until some years later that a means of significantly diffusing the violence in Northern Ireland would take form in the nine statements of principle that would bear the name of Nobel Peace Prize winner, Dr. Sean MacBride.
The MacBride campaign, at its core and in its intent was, and remains, an effort by, of and for people.
It was intended to make life better for all the people of Northern Ireland. It was fueled and guided by people here in the United States, some of them professional politicians and leading legal minds, but most of them just regular people, Irish Americans with a strong instinct for detecting injustice, and an even stronger desire to pus aside that injustice.
There are far too many people to say thank you to for the work of the past 25 years. Some are known only to themselves. But we do say thank you, the “we” in this case being all those who have worked over this span of years for the Irish Echo, a paper that supported the MacBride campaign from day one.
In place of all, but in being representative of all, we are honoring a select group of people this week, both in this issue and at a special event at New York City Hall. As well as past and present comptrollers of New York City and State, we are also particularly honoring Fr. Sean McManus and Pat Doherty, generals both in a campaign given life and force by many, many foot soldiers.
Together they brought profound change to a part of the world we hold dear. Their effort will, we are certain, inspire others in the years ahead to build on the achievements of a campaign that is truly a model for other lands where justice is still held at bay by the foes of fairness.