Irish thank U.S. lawmakersThe new leaders of Northern Ireland visited the Capitol yesterday to thank U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal and U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy for their support to help end one of the longest political disputes in European history.
Ian R. Paisley, the head of the Democratic Unionist Party - which wants to maintain its union with the United Kingdom, and Martin P. McGuinness, who represents Sinn Fein, the political wing of the now disbanded Irish Republican Army, lunched with Neal in the Capitol along with 20 other bipartisan members of Congress who have played various roles in supporting attempts by Protestant and Catholic political leaders to find a way to live together in peace.
Speaker of the House Nancy P. Pelosi, D-Calif., at the invitation of Neal, stopped by the luncheon to congratulate the two leaders on bringing peace to Northern Ireland.
Neal said that the working relationship between Paisley, the first minister of Northern Ireland, and McGuinness, the deputy first minister, is an example of "light in our lives" in the "quest for ending the longest standing political dispute in the history of the western world."
Afterward, Paisley and McGuinness, who each represent the extremes in the political argument of whether the six counties of Northern Ireland should be united with the Irish Republic, attended a press conference together to thank Neal and U.S. Rep. James T. Walsh, R-N.Y., for their roles as brokers in the peace process. The question of unification is left open in the peace accord to be decided by voters in the future.
Paisley, who upon his election in May, agreed to co-govern Northern Ireland with McGuinness, acknowledged the people of Northern Ireland have "found a better way" to live in the future.
"The people of Northern Ireland have had - in a peculiar way - seen the light," Paisley said.
"Times have changed, people have changed," Paisley said and told the congressmen, "thank you for your help in the past and do help us now."
McGuinness also acknowledge the work of Neal and Walsh, as well as administrations of Presidents John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
Seeing Paisley, 81, a Protestant minister who, as a member of the House of Commons, publicly heckled the late Pope John Paul in 1988, and McGuinness, 57, a former IRA commander, together was remarkable.
When asked if the two political leaders actually like the other, Paisley quipped, "well I haven't hit him and hasn't hit me yet and that's been for five or six months."
Later, Kennedy had to two leaders to tea in the LBJ room in the Capitol. The private event was attended by members of the Senate including Lindsey O. Graham, R-S.C.; John F. Reed, D-R.I.; Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y.; Susan M. Collins, R-Maine, and Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vermont.
Kennedy, speaking to reporters after the meeting, said that "what we are seeing with these two extraordinary leaders and their followers is a period of reconciliation and leadership that is a great example for turmoil not only in our country, but everywhere in the world."
www.masslive.com/hampfrank/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-12/1197018909184490.xml&coll=1
