Congressman Richard Neal
By Ray O’Hanlon
With Northern Ireland facing into a period of post-election political uncertainty, Congressman Richard Neal has called upon President Trump to appoint a new U.S. special envoy to the North peace and political process.
The U.S. has been without an envoy since former senator Gary Hart took his leave of the post last December.
“As we prepare for the last official visit of Taoiseach Enda Kenny to Washington, D.C., contemplate the ramifications that Brexit will have on the island of Ireland, and digest the results of the recent elections in the North, there could not be a more appropriate time for President Donald Trump to name a new U.S. Special Envoy for Northern Ireland,” said Neal, a Massachusetts Democrat and co-chair of the congressional Friends of Ireland.
“Since 1995, and the appointment of former Senator George Mitchell, there have been approximately six individuals, chosen by three presidents, who have served in this meaningful diplomatic post in a bipartisan manner,” Neal, who is ranking member of the crucial house Ways and Means Committee, said.
And he continued: “On both sides of the Atlantic, there is little debate that each special envoy has played an indispensable role in the negotiation and implementation of several peace accords, and have helped to strengthen ties between the United States and Ireland.
“These men and women have been honest brokers whose appointments have signaled continued American interest in the region and ongoing support for the peace process.
We are now entering a critically important period of U.S. - Ireland relations, with a wide range of important issues to be addressed,
“So I strongly urge President Trump to appoint a new special envoy at the earliest possible opportunity.
It would continue a bipartisan practice that produced highly regarded U.S. representatives who helped create one of the most successful models of conflict resolution around the globe in recent memory.”
While Senator Hart was representing the United States, he was specifically designated as the personal representative of then Secretary of State John Kerry.
Whether any successor would be formally described as a representative of President Trump or Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is unclear, but what is evident is that the State Department’s top tier has been eviscerated in recent weeks, either as a result of top officials quitting, retiring, or being forced out.
Reports have pointed to a severe degradation of the department’s institutional memory, and part of that memory would relate to Northern Ireland and the U.S. role there going back to the Clinton years.
