Please join us for an important event in Washington, DC to highlight the need for rights-based protection for Irish language speakers in the North of Ireland.  This is a non-partisan event sponsored by the IAUC, AOH, INA, Irish American Republicans, Irish American Democrats, and the Brehon Law Society.

Congressional Briefing on Irish Language Equality & the Irish Peace Process

Rayburn House Office Building, Room B-340 Washington, DC

The Irish language is at the center of the contemporary struggle for equality in the north of Ireland and is an issue of primary importance to the Irish peace process yet to be resolved.  Irish speakers are penalized under policies like the obsolete 1737 Administration of Justice (Ireland) Act, which prohibits the use of Irish in the court system. In addition, we believe that the lack of government funding and support is choking economic renewal and investment opportunities related to the Irish language, particulary in marginalized communities. We believes that the Irish Language Act will create an opportunity for the growth of the language and for the provision of services to current speakers.

On May 4th we will host an educational panel discussion featuring Janet Muller, Chief Executive of POBAL; Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, Managing Director, Belfast Media Group and Publisher, Irish Echo; Micheál Duibh, Development Officer of Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta (the Council for Irish Medium Education); and Domhnall Ó Cathain of the Brehon Law Society. Please join us for this opportunity to educate the Congressional community and provide suggestions on how Congress can support American and Irish interest in this important equality issue.

Janet Muller is the Chief Executive of POBAL, the non-governmental umbrella organisation for the Irish speaking community in the north of Ireland. She is responsible for the organisation’s strategic direction in relation to advocacy work and community development. She has spearheaded the initiative to establish an Irish Language Act for the north and been active in work around the Bill of Rights NI and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. She has overseen the drafting of POBAL’s monitoring and research reports on the first nine years of implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. She has researched legislative and planning initiatives nationally and internationally as well as studying and promoting models of good practice. She has a PhD from the University of Ulster and will shortly publish her first book, on conflict resolution and language policy in planning. She has been invited as an expert by the Council of Europe to conferences in different parts of Europe regarding language legislation.  She is a member of the Committee of Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich, the north’s premier Irish language Arts Centre, and a member of the Board of Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta (The Council for Irish Medium Education).

Máirtín Ó Muilleoir is the managing director of the Belfast Media Group which publishes community newspapers in Ireland and the US, most notably the Andersonstown News in Belfast and the Irish Echo in America. A graduate of QUB, he is a former Sinn Féin councillor and longstanding Irish language advocate. He developed the first training facility for young Irish speakers, the award-winning An Nasc building, which opened in West Belfast in 2001. He has also developed new headquarters for the Belfast Media Group, Teach Basil, a 10,000-square foot £1.25m building which opened in 2000 and includes press offices and a print hall. Latterly, he developed the Aisling Business Park in West Belfast, 10,000 square feet of industrial units which are occupied by, among other businesses, a daycare centre. He is heading the group behind the public artpiece Aisling an Phobail, the largest-ever public artwork in West Belfast which will celebrate the Irish language and welcome visitors to the Gaeltacht Quarter. The work, by Irish American artist Brian O’Doherty is part of a £225,000 project due for completion by the summer of 2010. Dr. Micheál Ó Duibh is currently employed by Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta (the Council for Irish Medium Education) as Development Officer.  His main job responsibilities lie in the strategic development of IM post-primary provision, IM ethos, IM trustees and IM governorship.  Previous to this post he spent 3 years as Senior Development Officer with Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta.  Dr. Ó Duibh is the Chairperson of POBAL and is also a Board Director and the Policy and Planning Officer on the Board of Directors of GAELSCOILEANNA TEO, an Irish-medium representative Body based in Dublin.  He graduated from the University of Ulster, Coleraine with a Doctorate in Philosophy.  Micheál first started to work in the Irish-medium sector as an Irish Language Development Officer with Pobal an Chaistil in Ballycastle, which is the founding organisation of the IM primary and pre-school in Ballycastle.  After working 2 years and achieving grant-aided status for Bunscoil an Chaistil he changed employment and went to work with Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta as a Development Officer.   After 3 years as a Development Officer he was promoted to Senior Development Officer, a post which entailed responsibility, amongst other duties, for the strategic development of the IME sector.  Previous to working in the IME sector he has taught as a part-time lecturer in both University of Ulster and University College Galway.  Micheál’s working life so far has been spent working with the promotion and development of the Irish Language and Irish-medium Education.    Dr. Ó Duibh is a native of Armagh and has a keen interest in Hurling and Gaelic football. Domhnall O'Cathain is Secretary and Publicity Director of the Brehon Law Society, New York. He is associated with the law firm of Lesnevich & Marzano-Lesnevich, LLC.

Domhnall was born and raised in Ballincollig, Co. Cork. He was raised in a bilingual household, where Irish and English were spoken. All of his schooling through age 18 was done in Irish.  His family has a long tradition of advocacy for the Irish language. Most notably, his mother, Blanaid Ui Chathain, is a published author and expert on Irish poetry and the Irish language in the former Irish speaking districts of west Co. Cork. Her grandfather, Peadar O hAnnrachain, devoted his life to the preservation and growth of the Irish language.

Domhnall continues this tradition with the Brehon Law Society. The Brehon Law Society is a staunch supporter of all efforts to continue the growth of the Irish language.

Domhnall has lived in the USA since 2002. His parents and two sisters continue to live in Ireland. Domhnall and his wife, Francesca O'Cathain, a native of New Jersey, live in Jersey City. They are expecting their first child this summer.

The following article was published in this week's Irish Echo using quotes from our recent press release:

January 13, 2010-The Irish American Unity Conference has called on the British government "to come clean" about what it calls Britain's "involvement in arming loyalist paramilitary groups," this following last week's announcement that the Ulster Defense Association and its offshoot, the Ulster Freedom Fighters, have completed their arms decommissioning process.

"While we welcome news of the UDA/UFF disarmament, the irony of the fact that these groups were armed by MI5 and RUC Special Branch is not lost on us. We cannot hail this as any kind of real achievement without an honest discussion of British complicity in arming loyalist paramilitary groups over the years of the conflict," IAUC National President, Kate McCabe, said,

"We know that the UDA/UFF were armed with weapons smuggled in from apartheid South Africa through paid British agent Brian Nelson under the watchful eye of Whitehall and Downing Street in 1987 and 1988, and that these very same weapons were then used in hundreds of sectarian murders," said McCabe.

"There continues to be an active interest within Irish America and Congress in uncovering evidence of the collusion that took place with the blessing of the British government.

"The IAUC submitted evidence to this effect at last October's congressional hearing into collusion between police and paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland. Also at this hearing, Representative Bill Delahunt said he believed a key factor in the developing peace process lies in the unsolved murders of the conflict," said McCabe.

She said the IAUC would continue to lobby for American political support for an "operationally independent, international truth commission."

Additionally, the IAUC would also seek a congressional hearing into the Brian Nelson affair and the arming of loyalist paramilitaries by British military intelligence.

The announcement last week by the UDA, the largest loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland, that it had put its weapons permanently beyond use, was elsewhere broadly welcomed.

The U.S. Consulate in Belfast described the move as another important and necessary step along the path to a secure and lasting peace. "America believes that only through dialogue and positive political engagement will the people of Northern Ireland achieve the peaceful and prosperous future they desire and deserve, and this move today further confirms that violence has no place in that future," the U.S. statement said.

In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton welcomed the move.

"This is a positive step toward securing a lasting peace in Northern Ireland. As I saw first-hand this fall, the people of Northern Ireland have traveled a long way together on the road to peace in the 11 years since the Good Friday Agreement was signed.

"But the journey is not over. That is why this announcement is so important. I want to commend the work of General John de Chastelain and his colleagues in the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, whose oversight and support was essential to the process, and reaffirm the commitment of the United States to supporting Northern Ireland in its progress towards a future of peace and prosperity," Clinton said.

On Capitol Hill, Rep. Richard Neal, Chairman of the Friends of Ireland, described the UDA move as another important milestone in the continuing effort to transform society in Northern Ireland.

"It is a bold and consequential development by the loyalist leadership that deserves recognition and acknowledgement on both sides of the Atlantic. On behalf of the Friends of Ireland in the United States House of Representatives, I commend them for their historic action, and offer my support to those within loyalism who seek a peaceful and democratic future." Said Neal.

Last June, I led a bipartisan congressional delegation to Dublin to meet with senior loyalists to discuss a wide range of issues. We had a candid and productive conversation, and it was clear that the leaders we met were committed to completing the process of decommissioning, and to providing economic opportunity for the communities they represent," added Neal.

The decommissioning, he said, reinforced the dedication of those same leaders to a peaceful and prosperous way forward.

"I now look forward to working with them, and all the political parties, to complete the peace process and begin to share the peace dividend," Neal said.

On Tuesday, December 8th the Irish Echo, in association with O'Dwyer and Bernstein will hold a special event entitled "Building on MacBride: Marking the 25th Anniversary of the MacBride Principles on Fair Employment" and New York City Hall. Members of the IAUC are encouraged to attend this important event, which will feature special guests such as Speaker and President of the New York City Council Christine Quinn, Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly MLA, Brian O'Dwyer and MacBride signatory Inez McCormick.

The IAUC has a long history of involvement in lobbying for the MacBride Principles in the US, and the success of this Irish American effort has built a solid foundation on which we have built our current targeted investment campaign.

For a list of speakers and honorees and information about getting tickets, please see the listing on our events page.

A new effort to build economic bridges between the US and Ireland will be launched in Boston next month at the Gateways to Tomorrow conference hosted by the Irish Echo.

The conference, which features high-profile speakers from Boston and northwest Ireland — including State Senate President Therese Murray of Massachusetts and Minister Conor Murphy of the powersharing executive in the North — will build on the Global Economic Forum held in Dublin last weekend and on last year's Investment Conference in Belfast.

While focusing on economic, academic and cultural linkages, the conference will also hear from IAUC President Kate McCabe and General James Cullen, founding President of the Brehon Law Society, who will speak on the lessons of the Irish peace process for America. Mary Louise Mallick, First Deputy Comptroller of New York State, which has invested $30m in a new fund targeting underserved areas of the North of Ireland will address the opportunities of regeneration.

Among the organisations sponsoring the conference are the University of Ulster, Magee, Derry City Council, the Derry regeneration body ILEX, and the Strategic Investment Board in North Ireland. US political figures addressing the conference include Massachusetts State Treasurer Tim Cahill and Rep. Gene O'Flaherty while Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray will be chief honoree at a luncheon finale to the conference.