[caption id="attachment_70736" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A Certificate of Irish Heritage."]
It would be interesting to know for sure if the degree of political reaction to the Boston College archives subpoenas was anticipated. The intervention of Senators John Kerry and Charles Schumer is not to be easily ignored and the renewed focus on treaties previously ratified by the Senate -the US-UK Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) and the revised extradition treaty between the U.S. and UK.
Schumer's letter, to Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warns of a threat to the peace process if the legal raid on the BC archives continues and expands.
States Schumer in his letter: "As you are aware, the actions by the United Kingdom in their request to obtain documents have rightfully caused considerable trepidation among leaders in international affairs including my colleague, Senator Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, as well as among other members of Congress.
"There is concern that some former parties to the conflict may perceive the effort by the UK authorities to obtain this information as contravening the spirit of the Good Friday Accords. Many have taken enormous risk in the name of moving Northern Ireland away from war and towards peace, and requests like this can have the effect of undermining that effort.
"I am proud of the role the United States played to bring about that peace. It would be a terrible mistake if this process were to upset the sensitive balance that has kept the peace and allowed for so much progress in recent years."
Significantly, Schumer said with regard to the extradition treaty that "during the ratification of this treaty we in the United States Senate made clear that provisions of this treaty, and others with the UK, should not be invoked pursuant to political goals related to Northern Ireland. In particular, the Senate resolution that accompanied the ratification of the extradition treaty in 2007 states that, 'The Senate understands that the purpose of the treaty is to strengthen law enforcement cooperation between the United States and the United Kingdom by modernizing the extradition process for all serious offences and that the treaty is not intended to reopen issues addressed in the Belfast Agreement, or to impede any further efforts to resolve conflicts in Northern Ireland.'"
This Senate understanding of the limits to the extradition treat clearly extend to the MLAT.
Concluded Schumer: "Given the close relationship we have with the United Kingdom and our deep commitment to a lasting peace in Northern Ireland, I urge you to Work with the British authorities to have this MLAT request withdrawn," the New York Democrat concluded.
Both Schumer and Kerry can anticipate a response to their letters, though just what can be done while the BC case is being argued in court is unclear.
HERITAGE HOOPLA
So just what do people think of those certificates of Irish heritage that were doing the rounds in such profusion over the St. Patrick's Day celebrations. Certainly no doubt what Trina Vargo of the US-Ireland alliance thinks.
This from her recent blog posting: "Whose idea was it to have the Taoiseach give President Obama a 'certificate of Irishness'? The Department of Foreign Affairs will use even their own Taoiseach to flog those things. The shop in Shannon Airport must have been out of leprechaun dolls and chunks of the auld sod.
The Taoiseach joked that the certificate is 'rare' - that's because no one wants them. I know the country's saving money, but I'm sure one of Ireland's great writers would have been only to happy to sign a book for the President."
Well, no doubt about that verdict, but the broader jury is still out on the certificates which are impressive enough to cast an eye over and, IF reckons, will likely appeal to many Irish Americans who are unable to lay their hands on Irish passports as a result of restrictive changes in Irish citizenship law that have been coming into force in recent years.
CONCORDAT
Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Attorney Brian O'Dwyer, as likely as not, would part ways on more than one political and social issue. But O'Dwyer, generally a liberal on political and social issues, had only kind words to write about the new cardinal in a recent op-ed he penned for the Albany Times Union.
Stated O'Dwyer in part: "While church leaders get the most attention in the secular world for their opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage and more recently, the Obama Administration's since-modified proposal to require Catholic institutions to cover birth control as part of employee health insurance - issues on which Dolan is an orthodox expositor of church doctrine - he has asserted himself forcefully into issues of economic justice and income inequality.
"In his role as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Dolan wrote an open letter to American Catholics in September stating that 'the best way out of poverty is to work at a living wage.'
"He later joined with supporters of a living wage bill currently before the New York City Council, issuing a statement saying, 'I do know and state clearly and unequivocally, that the church supports fair wages with decent benefits and jobs in sufficient numbers so that all might find work. Without decent jobs, families are weakened and the dignity of parents and children are threatened.'
"Dolan's work with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is both Catholic and gay, on living wage issues demonstrates the re-emergence of the Catholic commitment to support the rights of labor unions and other workers dating back to 1891, when Pope Leo XII issued his Rerum Novarum criticizing concentrations of wealth and power and upholding the rights of working people to organize.
"Dolan has connected to the political culture in New York City in a way that the late Cardinal John O'Connor did, and a way which his immediate predecessor, Cardinal Edward Egan, never seemed able to do. He has restored the archdiocese to its historic role as a powerful voice in this polyglot city's complicated and colorful political life.
"Dolan has also spoken strongly in favor of the rights of immigrants, both legal and illegal, as the representative of a church once dominated by Irish, German, Italian and other Europeans but now embracing increasing numbers of Latino and other immigrant adherents. This carries a historical resonance as well, as the Church entered the national political discourse as a counterweight to the nativism and bigotry aimed at the large waves of immigration that began transforming this country beginning with the Irish potato famine in the 1840s.
"And in the face of severe fiscal constraints, he has resisted closing parochial schools that educate tens of thousands of minority New Yorkers, many of whom are not even Catholic.
"New York's most effective cardinals have understood their pulpit reaches far beyond the vaulted splendor of St. Patrick's Cathedral, or the more modest surroundings in parish churches. Timothy Dolan understands that as well, and has shown he is willing to use the levels of influence at his disposal in the public square."
BOOTED EMBASSY
A BARGAIN TO BOOT
Still on church matters, the Irish embassy to the Vatican, ostensibly shut down as a cost saving according to the Irish taxpayer, may not have been such a big saving at all.
This according to a recent Irish Examiner report: "A total of 69 Irish embassies cost the State more than €76 million to run in 2011, but the Vatican embassy, controversially closed as a government money-saving measure, was among the cheapest.
"In fact, Ireland's most expensive foreign mission - its permanent representation to the EU in Brussels, run at a cost of €9.3 million last year - came in more than 15 times higher than the €589,300 cost of the embassy to the Holy See.
The paper reported that figures released under Freedom of Information legislation show that out of 69 embassies, the Vatican embassy barely scraped inside the top 50 in terms of running costs.
There are calls and efforts afoot to reopen the Vatican outpost. We shall, "See."
BROWN'S IMPERATIVE
Does Scott Brown need to see an E-3 Visa bill passed in order to maximize his Irish voting support in Massachusetts? Who knows, but any legislative victory will be something he will want to wave in his contest with Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren
A new survey shows Warren and republican Brown locked in a dead. The Boston Globe poll released last Sunday shows Brown with 37 percent support from likely voters to Warren's 35 percent. Brown's two-point edge falls within the poll's 4 percent margin of error. So it's a statisitcial dead heat at this point
"But the race is still fluid months ahead of their November match-up, with over a quarter of those surveyed, 26 percent, saying they remain undecided," the Globe reported.
