IAUC Board member Michael Cummings responds to "Proposing a memorial for IRA terrorists":

February 3, 2010

Letter Editor
INDEPENDENT
Independent House
27-32 Talbot Street
Dublin  1, Ireland

Dear  Editor:

Kevin Meyers commentary on a proposed memorial  in Enniscorthy (“Proposing a memorial for IRA terrorists” 2/3)  is an example of the very selective memorialisation he derides. 

Those who erect political memorials such as that proposed in Enniscorthy do so for two reasons.  First,  there is the process of grieving and remembrance. Second,  is the need to challenge those who re-write history.  In the case of Ireland’s conflict, British historians have made this a cottage industry. Not far from your offices in 1974 the British Army and their loyalist allies committed the largest atrocity of the conflict.  The no-warning Dublin-Monaghan bombs  cost the lives  of 33, mostly women and children shopping.  With the smell of Bloody Sunday still in the air, this act of war transformed a civil rights protest to an armed conflict.  Any fair reading of both the facts and the numbers since 1920 proves without question it is the British and their loyalist subjects who have the “..deviant addiction to violence”…Meyers abhors. 

Those who lose their lives in struggle,  armed or otherwise, could never be accused of “..going with the flow.”  On the other hand,  there is an Irish expression to describe those who  would have people bury painful memories of  British malevolence in favor of  recalling those who fell in service to the British Army.  Can you guess it?   Anything for the quiet life.

Sincerely, 

Michael J. Cummings

Member, National Board

Board member Michael Cummings' recent response (posted here earlier this week) to Thomas Gagen's Boston Globe article "Adams' secret, now his shame" appears in today's edition of the newspaper.

Fundraising Chair George Trainor has announced a spring raffle to raise money for the work of the IAUC. The Grand Prize will be round-trip airfare for two to Ireland!!

Tickets are $5 each, and can be obtained by contacting George at 209.482.5181. The drawing will be held on March 17th in Berkley, Michigan.

The Washington DC chapter of the IAUC will have a stall at the Maryland Irish Festival  November 13-15 at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, MD.  Come and meet some of our members and learn about the work we are doing!

Washington, DC—The Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH), Irish Northern Aid (INA) and the Irish American Unity Conference (IAUC) have joined together in a renewed effort to support an independent truth recovery process to deal with the legacy of the past following Thursday’s Congressional hearing into collusion in the North of Ireland.

The hearing featured testimony from Raymond McCord, John Finucane, former Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan, and Jane Winter, director of British Irish Rights Watch. Overwhelming Congressional support for further investigations into collusion and the full disclosure of truth on the part of the British government was evident throughout.

Congressman Bill Delahunt (D-MA), chair of the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight, told the audience that the information surrounding collusion between British security forces and paramilitaries must be made public if people are to maintain faith in the integrity of the justice system.  Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) agreed, stating that there is bipartisan support for truth recovery in Congress.  “These issues are not going to go away,” Smith said.

“We would like to see Congress become actively involved in the establishment and oversight of an independent truth commission in the North of Ireland,” said IAUC President Kate McCabe.  “Such a process, where victims’ rights are at the forefront, is essential to a lasting peace.  American political support is necessary to ensure the true independence of any truth recovery process in the North.”

AOH National President Seamus Boyle said, “It is very important to remember that with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 ending the conflict in the North the Ancient Order of Hibernians refocused on the human rights and collusion issues which were highlighted in this Congressional hearing. We need to have resolution to these collusion issues which devastated both communities. We can then move on to the much more difficult task of a political dialogue and reconciliation between the communities.”

The AOH, INA and the IAUC are requesting that a Congressional fact-finding delegation be organized to travel to the North to specifically investigate the collusion issue.  In addition, members of Congress are being asked to write to the Northern Ireland Office and Prime Minister Gordon Brown to express support for the “Legacy Commission” as proposed by the Consultative Group on the Past, provided that the British government allow for its operational independence and full access to State archives.

All Irish Americans and concerned citizens are being asked to join the AOH and IAUC in promoting these goals.

The Pittsburgh chapter of the Irish American Unity Conference is proud to announce their co-sponsorship of an upcoming event at the University of Pittsburgh.  "A Forum on the Conflict in Northern Ireland: Where We Are and Where We're Going" features Rita O'Hare of Sinn Fein and Dawn Purvis of the Progressive Unionist Party and is presented by the Ireland Institute of Pittsburgh, the University of Pittsburgh's Center for International Studies, and Congressman Tim Murphy.

See our events page or the Ireland Institute's website for more information.

Equality and the Irish Language in the North of Ireland
Saturday, October 10th at 7pm at Glucksman Ireland House, NYU

Belfast solicitor Michael Flanigan will discuss his ongoing legal challenge to the controversial 1737 ban on the use of Irish in the court system, the status of the Irish Language Act promised by the British Government at St. Andrews in 2006, and the rights of Irish language speakers in the North of Ireland.  Other highlights for the evening include remarks by Domhnall O’Cathain of the Brehon Law Society; Mike Breen, IAUC board member and Director of Mary’s Gift Irish Language Foundation; and a special greeting from Pobal, the Belfast-based umbrella organization for the Irish speaking community.

The event will be followed by a reception with light appetizers and wine, as well as chocolates provided by Lily O'Brien's Café.  Irish music will be performed by Jim and Sara McCabe.

Equality and the Irish Language is sponsored by the Irish American Unity Conference, the Brehon Law Society, and Glucksman Ireland House. For more information, please email president (at) iauc.org.

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.