Bertie to speak in Congress today…
Bertie gets his last day in the political sun today. You can pick up his speech to the US Congress on line here. Expect mention of his role in bringing constitutional matters to a close in Northern Ireland. And possibly for Hillary ‘instrumental’ role in bringing peace to us natives? Of course, the opening scenes began on the Clinton watch. But the Bush adminstration played a more discreet, but possibly decisive role in bring final closure.
Tags: Republic
Clinton helped Bertie get reelected. I expect Bertie will return the favour today.
If anything, he loaded it the other way…
Ahern claimed in his speech that the conflict in Ireland was “over for good” and that “Ireland is at peace”.
This is far from the case. There might not be significant political violence from paramilitary organisations, but the island is still deeeply divided along ethnic lines, a situation which could give rise to further serious violence in the future. The Troubles in Ireland rage quietly on.
There will only be peace when the ethnic division on the island is so diminished that it bears no further threat and that will only ever be achieved when the constitutional question is resolved with the building of consensus for an all-island system of governance.
Major steps forward have been taken, but Bertie has seriously over-stated the results to date of the Peace Process.
‘If anything, he loaded it the other way’
I take your referring to Bertie invoking the Martin Luther King imagery Mick. Only caught the last half on newstalk whilst in the motor. Thought it went pretty well.