Irish Americans for Biden Harris

September 23 2008 Dear Senator McCain, Thank you for meeting with us on Monday September 22 in Scranton Pennsylvania to discuss our issues concerning the Irish American community. You did address the seven issues which we had given to you on a previous occasion and we were generally satisfied with your answers and your ideas to implement action on our behalf should you be elected in November. It was a great meeting but when you began your speech with a joke about the Irish, I and many of our fellow Irish Americans in the Ancient Order of Hibernians, were shocked. It was really an insult to a whole nationality to be stereotyped as drunks. The Irish are a jovial people who enjoy life, work hard, help the needy, support our community and our country yet get depicted as drunkards and partiers. As you stated in your speech yesterday the Irish have a great education and work ethic. Senator, I was not the only one offended and I received numerous complaints from a variety of people througho...

"Senator Obama has long said that, if elected president, he intends to invest the full weight of his office in the vital Irish peace process. "After consultations with the members of his senior panel of advisers on Irish issues and informal soundings with British and Irish officials, Senator Obama has said that if he becomes president, he will appoint a senior envoy to Ireland who will build on the groundbreaking achievements of the Clinton Administration and help bring the historic process to final fruition." Issued by the Obama Campaign on September 18, 2008.

By Congressman Richard E. Neal Recently, Senator Barack Obama asked me join a distinguished group of leaders who will advise him on Irish-American affairs. As the Chairman of the Friends of Ireland in the U.S. House of Representatives, it was a great personal honor to be chosen to serve on this senior advisory panel. I know both Senator Obama and Senator Joe Biden share my longstanding desire to strengthen Irish-American political, economic and cultural ties. And I am certain that an Obama administration will make the pursuit of permanent peace and stability in Northern Ireland a top priority, will enact comprehensive immigration reform that keeps America ’s doors open and will improve the quality of life of Irish-Americans; and will restore America ’s standing in the world. Like many of us, Barack Obama and Joe Biden come from Irish stock. Senator Obama’s great, great, great grandfather on his mother’s side set sail from County Offaly in 1850, arriving in New York and eventually settl...

By Michael P. Quinlin Irish advocates across the United States should be reassured by presidential candidate Barak Obama’s statement on Ireland, Northern Ireland and Irish-America, which he released the week of the Democratic National Convention. It was the fourth of five Irish statements Obama’s campaign has issued in the past year, and it addressed immigration reform, investment in the island of Ireland and keeping the peace in Northern Ireland. It also included a welcomed shout-out to Irish-Americans, focusing on the domestic policies Obama hopes will help blue-collar ethnic communities across America. You can read the entire statement here. What drew some attention is Obama’s passage on the US Special Envoy position to Northern Ireland, which reads: Barak Obama will consult with the Taoiseach, the British Prime Minister, and party leaders in Northern Ireland to determine whether a special U.S. envoy for Northern Ireland continues to be necessary or whether a senior administration o...

"Senator Obama has surrounded himself with a group of advisors who have a long history of working to advance the Northern Ireland peace process and strengthening the U.S.-Irish relationship. I am proud to have been asked to serve on the panel, and I look forward to further engaging Barack on the issues that matter most to the Irish community, such as keeping in place the special U.S. envoy to Northern Ireland."

"Barack Obama will be an outstanding President for America and Irish America. He is firmly committed to strengthening not only the peace in Northern Ireland but also the deep ties that bind the American and Irish people. I am delighted to be a part of this Advisory Committee."

“I am honored that Senator Barack Obama would ask me to serve on such a distinguished committee. As Chairman of the Friends of Ireland in the House of Representatives, I have had the pleasure of working closely with virtually every member of the advisory panel for more than 30 years on U.S.-Ireland relations. Each one of us has developed a longstanding relationship with the Irish government and the political leaders in Northern Ireland. I know we all share a deep commitment to maintaining and building upon the extraordinary relationship that exists between the people of the United States and those on the island of Ireland. I look forward to working closely with Senator Obama, Senator Biden and my colleagues on the advisory panel on this critically important issue during the presidential campaign. And I am certain it will be a foreign policy priority in President Obama’s administration.”

(September 1, 2008) Senator Barack Obama today created a high level advisory panel on Irish issues, comprised of seven great American leaders who have built close ties with America’s historic partner and friend: Senator George Mitchell, Senator Chris Dodd, Senator Ted Kennedy, Senator Pat Leahy, Governor Martin O’Malley, Rep. Joe Crowley and Rep. Richard Neal. The advisory panel will complement outreach work already being led in this important community by Carol Wheeler, and the creation of the panel comes a week after Irish American Senator Joe Biden became the Democratic nominee for Vice President. Ireland has been a trusted friend and cherished partner of the United States for many generations. When the Irish have landed on American shores, they have enriched the American spirit and helped fuel the U.S. economy. In recent years, Ireland has built an outstanding education system and transformed itself into an economically vibrant country that has inspired other nations. Northern Ir...

By Michael P. Quinlin (Boston) – It doesn’t matter to me if Barak Obama can trace his Irish ancestry back to County Offaly. Or whether he marched in a recent St. Patrick’s Day parade, or whether he wears a shamrock on his lapel. And it shouldn’t matter to the Irish community in America either. These are just incidentals that media pundits are grasping at to gauge Obama’s relationship with the Irish-American community. To get a true measure of Obama’s stance on Irish issues, you need only refer to statements issued by his campaign over the past year. In those statements Obama has expressed support for issues important to Irish-American activists: Ensuring that Northern Ireland continues to progress under the principles of the Belfast Agreement; Continuing to develop trade and economic opportunities between the United States and Ireland and Northern Ireland as a way of strengthening cross-Atlantic partnerships; and Calling for comprehensive immigration reform to correct the failures of A...

“ The determined optimism of the Irish people has enabled them to grab hold of hope in the United States, from South Boston to the south side of Chicago. It’s an optimism expressed in three issues so important to Irish Americans today: a lasting peace in Northern Ireland, an American immigration policy that keeps faith with our tradition of offering opportunity to those who seek it, and strong economic and cultural ties between our two nations.” [Barack Obama, February 2007] BARAK OBAMA: ON IRELAND, NORTHERN IRELAND AND IRISH AMERICA Irish Ancestry : Barack Obama was delighted to learn last year that a maternal ancestor, Falmouth Kearney, emigrated to America from Ireland. Falmouth, Barack Obama’s great great great grandfather, left Moneygall, County Offaly, on a ship called Marmion . He arrived in New York on March 20, 1850, and first settled in Wayne, Fayette County, Ohio, joining relatives who had previously settled there. Contribution of Irish Immigrants to America : Barack Obama r...