February 15, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Ray O’Hanlon
With his share of credit for Friday’s historic peace vote in Ireland well and truly banked, Sinn FTin leader Gerry Adams arrives in New York this week intent on securing the immediate financial future of his party.
Adams will headline two, and possibly three, major fund-raisers in New York between Wednesday and his return to Ireland Saturday.
In addition, the Sinn FTin president is expected to visit the White House Friday to meet with President Clinton.
Adams kicks off his post-referenda U.S. tour Wednesday evening with a lecture at the American Irish Historical Society in Manhattan.
Later, he will headline a $250-a-head fund-raiser at the Plaza Hotel. The fund-raiser, specifically a cocktail reception from 6-9 p.m., is aimed at boosting Sinn FTin coffers in advance of next month’s Northern Ireland assembly elections.
Sign up to The Irish Echo Newsletter
A second $1,000-a-head fund-raiser is being organized for Windows On The World, atop the world Trade Center, Thursday afternoon at 4. Adams is expected to be given a tour of the New York Stock Exchange earlier in the day. As the Echo went to press, Friends of Sinn FTin, the party’s U.S. fund-raising arm, was also working on a possible third fund-raiser.
During his visit to New York, Adams is also expected to brief the editorial boards of Newsday and the New York Times.
On Friday, Adams will travel to Washington for the White House meeting and also for discussions with political leaders on Capitol Hill. On Saturday, Adams will attend a lunch during the Irish Northern Aid annual meeting in Hartford, Conn.
While Adams can clearly expect a warm reception at every venue, some who would take issue with his party’s march toward Stormont Castle are also planning to voice their views.
A group calling itself the Irish Republican Movement in America is planning to hand out leaflets at the various FOSF fund-raisers.
The leaflets, featuring a one cent coin, suggest that not one penny should go to funding “British Rule, British Partition, British Dominion or Any Participants” in the proposed Stormont assembly, elections for which are set for June 25.
The IRMA is understood to be linked to Cumann na Saoirse, or the Irish Freedom Committee, which, in turn, is linked to Republican Sinn FTin in Ireland.
“Gerry Adams is now on the British payroll and we should not be supporting anyone who helps to prop up the British state,” said radio presenter John McDonagh, who plans to be one of the individuals handing out leaflets outside the fund-raisers.
“We used to picket Charles Haughey and Garret FitzGerald and Adams is no different,” McDonagh said.
Meanwhile, the Irish Times reported that the British government had not yet decided on whether to seek the extradition of Sinn FTin press officer Rita O’Hare should she assume her expected posting as head of the Friends of Sinn FTin office in Washington.
There is an outstanding arrest warrant for O’Hare in Northern Ireland stemming from an alleged arms offense committed in the early 1970s. O’Hare currently lives in the Republic. At the time of the alleged offense, there was no extradition treaty between Dublin and London.
A British Embassy spokesman told the Times that the lifting of the warrant would require British government action. The report suggested that in view of the changed situation in Northern Ireland, a way would be found to allow O’Hare to take up her Washington position without her being subjected to a British extradition proceeding.