US State Department

Gerry Adams: “It is no skin off my nose not to meet the [US] State Department.”

Pete Baker on March 16, 2015, 4:58 pm

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Did the US State Department cancel a planned meeting by a “high-level US state department official” with the Sinn Féin President, Gerry Adams, TD, after Sinn Féin withdrew support for the welfare reform bill, as the BBC, and others, have been reporting? Gerry Adams’ latest statement would tend to suggest that they did. Here’s what the Sinn Féin press release says [Gerry Adams]: “The State Department’s handling of the issue of a meeting with me is bizarre. It serves no purpose other than …

Did US St Patrick’s day concerns about OFMdFM’s inability to co-ordinate prompt Hass intervention?

Mick Fealty on August 5, 2013, 4:17 pm

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After his interview with a former US Consul to Belfast, Steven McCaffrey wonders if OFMdFM suggestions that the engagement of Richard Haas was largely on their own initiative, are somewhat exaggerated: The fact that Mrs Stephenson appears to track recent political progress as having started after Northern Ireland leaders met President Barack Obama in Washington on St Patrick’s Day makes it tempting to wonder – rightly or wrongly – who we really have to thank for the positive new policies …

“This was the biggest irritant between us and the Northern Ireland Office..”

Pete Baker on November 10, 2008, 3:09 am

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Just a quick point about The Observer’s extracts from Henry McDonald’s recently published book Gunsmoke and Mirrors – How Sinn Féin dressed up defeat as victory. Mary Alice Clancy’s study of the Bush administration’s Northern Ireland policy between 2001 and 2006 may have been under-reported, but it wasn’t un-reported – as John Ware would confirm [And Paul Bew – Ed]. But it has never been just about those “dreary steeples”. From The Observer article Clancy said that those she spoke …