Political Correspondent Christina Finn reporting from New York
SINN FÉIN IS on a charm offensive in the US this week, seeking to garner support on issues relating to Northern Ireland and Brexit as well as Irish Unity.
Leader Mary Lou McDonald told a crowd at Fordham University in New York today that the outbreak of conflict in Europe reminds us that peace, self-determination and sovereignty are precious and can never be taken for granted.
“Ireland understands the damaging and divisive legacy wrought by colonisation, occupation and the denial of self-determination.
“We understand too, how priceless is the peace so hard won. How sacred is the peace process that shaped and delivered the historic Good Friday Agreement,” she said.
The speech she gave tonight was titled: ‘Irish Unity in our time.’
McDonald also said she still believes a border poll will be held in the next five to ten years.
Such rhetoric has been dubbed dangerous by some politicians who say it only serves to isolate those in unionist communities at a time when tensions are already high.
If true, the advert calling for a Citizens’ Assembly on Irish unity in The New York Times today will also not have gone down too well.
But Sinn Féin is looking to get some big players in US politics on side when it comes to a united Ireland.
“The US has played a unique role in our road to nationhood. Walk with us now
as we travel the final length of that journey,” McDonald said this evening.
“We are living in the end days of partition. The momentum behind Irish Unity is unprecedented,” she told the university crowd, stating:
In the North, the unionist absolute electoral majority is gone. It is not coming back.
Bonds between Ireland and America
While such words might not be so charming to the DUP, McDonald was quick to point to the “bonds” that bind the US and Ireland, reminding the UK never to forget them again.
Speaking at an event at the US Council for Foreign Relations today, she said when it came to Brexit, the UK showed they had a “complete underestimation” of the level of interest the US has in Irish peace.
McDonald said the UK also misunderstood the broad consensus in American opinion to “peace in Ireland and indeed to unity in Ireland”.
London and how it has dealt with Brexit and Northern Ireland has “displayed a deep misunderstanding of Ireland” and the deep relationship with the US, she said.
“London totally misunderstood and still misunderstands” that leaders on Capitol Hill are “on top” of the Irish question.
The fact Biden’s family ancestor hail from Mayo and Louth “doesn’t do any harm”, she joked.
Access is invaluable
While every year there are criticisms of Irish politicians heading abroad for St Patrick’s Day, McDonald said the access the Irish get in the United States over the next week “is invaluable to Ireland”.
Speaking to The Journal in New York, McDonald said:
“I think people saw probably most directly the value of having relationships and friendships and support here in the United States at the height of the Brexit process.”
When Brexit happened, and given the threat to Irish peace and the Irish economy, McDonald said “we knew that we had to mobilise everything that we’ve got to protect our national interest”.
“It shouldn’t be underestimated the power of the United States in that regard,” she said.
Congressman Richard Neal, who’s Chair of the Ways and Means Committee in the US, has been an incredible ally, as has the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said McDonald.
Even in the midst of the crisis in Ukraine and with the focus very much on how to resolve that situation, there will still be a focus this week on securing the Good Friday Agreement, said McDonald.
Ensuring that Ireland is not the “collateral damage of the Brexit process” is also “very much up front and centre in the minds of very senior leadership figures here”, she said.
The “great beauty” of Ireland’s support in the US, is that it comes from both sides of the aisle, with both Republicans and Democrats having Ireland’s back.
“So that’s a great advantage for us,” she said.
Do US politicians have a deep understanding of the Irish issues at play when it comes to Brexit, Irish unity and the Good Friday Agreement?
‘They absolutely do,” McDonald maintains. “To their very great credit, in my view, they continue to take such a huge interest in Ireland. They have such a sense of loyalty to Ireland with many of their forefathers, their grandparents or great grandparents or further back, coming from home.
“Certainly that sense of that familial relationship is strong for many of them, but I think it’s to their very great credit that they’ve kept faith with Ireland.”
She said there is an understanding amongst the Biden administration as to what exactly is happening on the ground.
“Absolutely, I mean, the American administration absolutely understands these issues, and crucially, is absolutely prepared to be involved and to take a side and to stand on the side of peace, democracy and the Good Friday Agreement. That should not be at all, at all taken for granted by any of us.”
The Journal’s Political Correspondent Christina Finn will be bringing you all the latest updates from Micheál Martin’s visit to Washington DC this week, including his meeting with US President Joe Biden on Thursday.
Stay up-to-date by following @christinafinn8, @TJ_Politics and TheJournal.ie’s Facebook page.
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