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As
I retire from Congress I want to pay tribute to Father
Sean Mc Manus, the President of the Irish National
Caucus.
For
30 years as a Member of Congress I have been privileged
to work for many good and noble causes around the
world. None has given me more pleasure than my work
for equality, justice and peace in Ireland. Throughout
my 30 years of congressional work, Father Mc Manus
has been constantly by my side - encouraging, guiding
and giving invaluable advice from his unsurpassed
knowledge of the Irish issue. No one has done more
than Father Mc Manus to keep the U.S. Congress on
track regarding justice and peace in Ireland. Indeed,
I believe historians will record that no one since
John Devoy (1842-1928) has done more to organize American
pressure for justice in Ireland. (The only difference
being that Father Mc Manus - in keeping with his priestly
calling - is committed to nonviolence).
During
the past 30 years, the fingerprints of Father Mc Manus
are over every piece of Congressional action on Ireland:
from the formation of the Ad Hoc Congressional Committee
For Irish Affairs in 1977 (which in turn sparked the
formation of the Friends of Ireland in 1981) to Congressional
Hearings on Northern Ireland, once banned until I
became Chairman of the International Relations Committee
in 1995; from individual human rights cases, like
the Birmingham Six and Guildford Four to the political
assassinations cases of Pat Fincucane and Rose Mary
Nelson; from the Hunger Strikes of Bobby Sands and
his nine colleagues to the general mistreatment of
political prisoners; from individual cases of anti-Catholic
discrimination to the full, frontal and triumphal
campaign of the Mac Bride Principles; from stopping
the sale of U.S. weapons to the RUC to putting human
rights conditions on U.S. dealings with the Northern
Ireland police.
Summarily,
Father Mc Manus' mantra "that the United States
must not subsidize anti-Catholic discrimination in
Northern Ireland" has now become U.S. law and
policy. Accordingly, it has been my honor and privilege
to have given Congressional shape to Father Mc Manus'
dream for his beloved Ireland.
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