Hain Comments Spark Row

The recent U.S. visit by new Northern Secretary Peter Hain did not pass of without incident. Hain held many meetings with leading Irish American and political figures when he was here, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The Sunday Telegraph in London disclosed that Hain had been unstinting in his complimentary comments about Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness in many of those meetings. This caused upset among the ranks of Unionists of course, with Peter Robinson, deputy leader of Ian Paisley’s DUP, castigating the new Northern secretary and saying the comments showed his pro-Nationalist bias.

The Telegraph also quoted from this newspaper’s interview with Hain to make its point. In the interview Hain stated that Adams had shown “a lot of political guts” in calling for the IRA to step aside, and he called the Adams statement a “very important, momentous statement” that showed “vision and determination.”

Hain also said he believed that the Adams statement was “a line in the sand” and that Adams and McGuinness were “on an historic mission to take the Republican movement towards exclusively democratic means.”

It is hard to see why anyone should argue with the above comments, stating the obvious as they do. However, there is little question that right now, with talk of the IRA statement of intent to disband in the air, Unionists are particularly nervous about what deal has been worked out to bring that to fruition.

‘Stupid’ Hain, Says Adams

It was unfortunate timing for both men, but just at the time that Hain was singing the praises of Gerry Adams in the U.S., the Sinn Fein leader was castigating him back home in Belfast.

Adams was rightly upset that Hain had rearrested Sean Kelly, the former Republican prisoner who carried out the Shankill Road bombings and who had been free under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

Adams was also angry that Hain had agreed with the Unionists that a period of time would have to elapse after an IRA statement before they would enter negotiations with them.

Adams called Hain’s decision on Kelly “one of the stupidest decisions that has been taken in a long time here,” and accused Hain of “caving in” to the Unionists on many other issues.

Just to put matters right for Hain, he was also blasted on the other side by Ian Paisley, who warned him that “no doctored statement” by the IRA would do.

Maybe Hain feels he must be doing something right if both sides are blasting him.

Old Enemies At Consul Home

Speaking of Hain, how times have changed. He spoke at a reception in the Manhattan residence of the British Consul on Tuesday night before a list of invited Irish American leaders.

Among them was Larry Downes, head of Friends of Sinn Fein in the U.S. It surely is a new era when Sinn Fein are among the invited guests at such an event in the home of the old enemy.

Also present was Pat Doherty, who works for the New York City comptroller’s office. Doherty can take much of the credit for the MacBride Principles, the set of fair hiring guidelines that then New York City Comptroller Harrison Goldin injected into the Northern Ireland political discourse. The principles were a mighty thorn in the side of successive British governments.

Goldin has long since moved on, but Doherty has become an ever present in the office of the New York City comptroller and still carries out the task of Irish liaison with the current incumbent, William Thompson.

It really is a sign of changed times when men like Downes and Doherty are among the invited guests at the British consul’s residence. Love them or hate them, the British are certainly good at inclusion when they want to be.

At the event Doherty certainly had an interesting insight into Hain. He remembered attending a “Time to Go” event in the 1980s in London which Hain also attended.

It is obviously a role the Northern secretary would like to put behind him at this point.

O’Connor’s Irish Roots

Though she was often referred to as an Irish American, Sandra Day O’Connor was at pains to explain that her roots were actually Scottish and that her husband supplied the Irish heritage.

O’Connor explained in a letter to our sister publication Irish America magazine a few years ago that while she was a frequent visitor to Ireland and was proud of her husband’s roots, her own were definitely Scottish as she has extensively researched them.

O’Connor was born in El Paso on the Texas Mexican border and was most likely descended from the same Scotch Irish stock who defended the Alamo a few generations earlier.

Certainly, given the scramble on to replace her and the sharply rising tensions, we may witness another type of Alamo in the Senate before the next nominee is secure.