Conference tallis::celt

       The following is exerpts from a meeting with a guy named paddy
    and this is basically his view
    
    First he would like to say to all his friends he thinks of you often. 
    And he wishes to say hi to all his non-friends he thinks of you also
    but not as often.
    
    
    The denial ofGerry's visa is just another showing of the true strangle
    hold the Brits have with the US government.  And the banning of
    Bernadette's speach is just the situation normal for the Brit's.  I
    think the Brits should all hide their heads in shame and go home.
    
    I am not a scholar of the Irish situation but I have a very good friend
    that is.  As a matter of fact I just went to a meeting he hosted for
    about 45 of us.  He was very informative to say the least.
    
    I never knew how bad the discrimination situation was until I read so
    somme of the news clippings from the Irish Times.  He is also
    testifying at the State Senate next weekas to the situation as he found it 
    on his recent visit.
    
    Again, paddy said hi to all of you. He is having a good time and people
    are listening now.  (what ever that means)
    
    He said to sign it!!!!!!!!!!!!
    
    
    paddy

    The thing which annoys me is that the state dept. allows in Ian
    Paisley, but refuses Gerry Adams.  It should let in both, or ban
    both, but don't have double standards...  This denial of free speech
    simply prolongs the conflict...

       Once again the stinking Brit government is subverting our 
    Constitutional right to free speech by pedaling it's influence thru the 
    Anglophiles that run the State Dept. 
    
       The Brit stranglehold on our State Dept. has been noticed before by
    others. Some readers may recall that at the outset of the war in the 
    Malvinas (a.k.a. the Falklands crisis), Jeanne Kirkpatrick, then 
    American Ambassador to the United Nations, commented on the extent of 
    British influence in the U.S. by suggesting the U.S. State Department 
    be disbanded and replaced by the dictates of the British Home Office.
    
    Whatever you may think of the British colonial occupation of Ireland, 
    Sinn Fein, or the IRA, we Americans have the RIGHT to hear Gerry Adams 
    speak. The man has  been convicted of no crime, and certainly, not that 
    for which he was denied a visa.
         
                       US Rejects Visa Application of
                        Sinn Fein Party President

                 by Kevin Cullen (Boston Globe 5/6/93)


       The US State Dept. has turned down the visa application of
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams, whose political party supports
the Provisional Irish Republican Army's efforts, on the grounds
that he has given support to terrorism.

       Adams had asked for a visa so he could promote two of his
books in the United States. Adams could not be reached for
comment. In a telephone interview from Belfast, a source close to
Adams said he was "very disappointed" by the decision, which he
learned of several days ago.

       Some Irish and Irish-American activists, including those
who oppose the IRA, criticized the decision, saying it flew in
the face of the principle of free speech.

       US Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy 2d, who has criticized British
policy in Northern Ireland and the IRAs bombing campaign that has
killed civilians in England and Ireland, was more guarded, saying
he wanted to see the State Department's rationale before offering
an opinion. Kennedy, however, said he thought an opportunity to
help Ireland was lost by Adams "not renouncing violence," and not
being allowed into the country.

       British government officials had privately expressed their
opposition to Adams' visit, saying he was an apologist for the
IRA. While Adams' party is legal, the IRA is outlawed on both
sides of the Irish border.

       The timing of Adams' visa application process was
controversial. It followed the March 20 IRA bombing that killed
two boys in England, and at a time when the Clinton
Administration is wooing the British government to back its
policy in trying to halt the fighting in the former Yugoslavia.

        Also, this week, the British secretary of state for
Northern Ireland, Patrick Mayhew, is touring the US to win
support for restarting political negotiations that broke down
last November. Mayhew, who met with Atty. General Janet Reno
yesterday, is scheduled to visit Boston today.

        However, a source at the State Dept. familiar with the
Adams case denied that the visa refusal had anything to do with
the timing of Mayhew's visit or Bosnian policy.

        "This was a process that was churning long before," said
the source.

        The refusal is the second time the Clinton administration
has reneged on statements he made to the Irish-American activists
during the election campaign.

        As a candidate, Clinton said allowing Adams into the
country "would be totally harmless to our national security, and
it might be enlightening to the political debate in this country
about the issues."

        While campaigning, Clinton had also voiced strong
support for dispatching a special envoy to help mediate stalled
political talks in Northern Ireland. But after taking office, and
meeting with British Prime Minister John Major and Irish premier
Albert Reynolds, Clinton has cooled to that idea.

        Some British government officials had feared that Clinton
had become beholden to what one described as "an extremist" Irish
agenda. But the Oxford-educated Clinton and his administration
are proving not nearly as radical as the British once feared.

       A State Dept. official, speaking on the condition of
anonimity, said Adams had been turned down under a section
of the Imigration and Naturalization Act that bars anyone deemed
to have engaged in terrorist activity.

       In an interview with the Globe in Belfast last month,
Admas denied suggestions he was once a member of the IRA, which
would have made him ineligible for entry under the Imigration and
Naturalization Act.

       Defenders fo Adams' right to visit contend that extreme
proponents of Northern Ireland remaining in the United Kingdom
have obtained visas. Rev. Ian Paisley, leader of the
ultraconservative Democratic Unionists, has regularly visited, as
has his deputy.
                         [End of article]

     Oh, wow: another Brit colonial governor of NI setting up more 
    "talks about talks." And when they finally get down to the talks, 
    the talks will be about, yep, you guessed it: Partition.
     
     Let's get that collection going again, you know: the "Buy A Brit A
    CLUE". 
    
                    British Envoy Sees Irish Talks Resuming
                            Boston Globe (5/10/93)
                              by Kevin Cullen

        Sir Patrick Mayhew, the British secretary of state for
Northern Ireland, says there is "no reason why" stalled
negotiations in Europe's longest-running conflict cannot resume
shortly after local elections are held May 19.

        In an interview at the Beacon Hill home of British Consul
John Owen before flying back to Belfast over the weekend, Mayhew
wrapped up a weeklong visit to the United States by offering a
more optimistic view than Irish Prime Minister Albert Reynolds.
In an interview here two weeks ago, Reynolds said he did not
think talks could take place until autumn.

        Reynolds had said he feared it would be unwise to resume
talks in summer, given the atmosphere surrounding the annual July
parades held by those favoring union with Britain marking the
military victory of Protestant King William of Orange over
catholic King James II in 1690.

        But Mayhew, now in his second year with one of the most
difficult portfolios in the Brtish government, said he believes
too many people pay too much attention to annual events like the
so-called marching season that focus on the troubled province's
past rather than its future.

         "I think it's quite realistic that as early as June"
talks could resume, said Mayhew, the tall, blunt-speaking former
British attorney general. "We went right through" marching season
"last year, and there's no reason we can't this year."

         Discussions involving the leaders of four of Northern
Ireland's five biggest political parties and representatives of
the Irish and British governments ended without agreement in
November. Sinn Fein has been excluded from the talks by the other
participants because it supports the Irish Republican Army's
campaign.

         Mayhew said his US tour, which included stops in
Washington and New York, was meant to round up support for the
initiative to return some form of local government to Northern
Ireland. That is a tall order. Hard-line unionists who favor
remaining Brutish subjects have resisted the idea of sharing
power with the Catholic minority. The ultraconservative
Democratic Unionists, led by Rev. Ian Paisley, have said they
will not resume talks until the Irish government relinquishes its
constitutional claim to Northern Ireland.

*******************************************************************
*        While Mayhew would not respond to questions about the    *
*State Department's decision to deny a travel visa to Sinn Fein   *
*president Gerry Adams, sources close to Mayhew said he was       *
*heartened by the decision. [Ed note: No hidden agenda here, eh?! *
*Let's just keep blowing dust in peoples eyes and pretend the Brit*
*government is really sincere about ending this war]              *
*******************************************************************

        British officials had worried that President Clinton
would embrace a more radical Irish agenda. They seen (?!) his
decision to bar Adams, along with Clinton's retreat from a
campaign promise to appoint a special envoy to Northern Ireland
as signs his pledges were more electioneering than policy.

        In a meeting with Mayhew Friday, Mayor Flynn continued to
push the idea of an envoy, saying it would help to force a
compromise in a land not known for it. Mayhew, however, said he
did not agree with Flynn. Nor did Mayhew agree with Rep. Joseph
P. Kennedy 2d, who met with Mayhew in Washington.

        "This is the third secretary of state who has talked to
me about talks," Kennedy said in a telephone interview. "If this
round of talks does not produce a settlement, I would like to see
the British put forth a clear paper on what they intend to do in
the future, something like what they did Hong Kong, with time
frames and clear intentions."
                        [End of Article]

   Patrick Mayhew was interviewed by National Public
   Radio last week (I guess while he was over for his
   visit).  He spent the whole interview, trying to
   push the British governments view of the situation
   in northern Ireland.  It was catered nicely to the
   public (he's a politician for sure).

   The man even had the gall to believe that most
   Americans would agree with his governments refusal
   to sit down and talk with Sinn Fein (a political
   party that receives some 35% of the Nationalist 
   vote).

   It seemed pretty basic to me, if you want peace, you
   at least invite the folks to the talks who you 
   would like to have peace with.  Obviously Patrick
   Mayhew's real agenda is not one of peace.

                   Mark

    
    
       From:

    
    
    
      "Adams allowed to challenge ban"

      "The Sinn Fein leader's lawyers have been
       allowed to seek a judicial review of the
       order excluding him from Great Britain"

      "The Sinn Fein president, Gerry Adams, yesterday won permission
       to challenge the legality of the government exclusion order
       banning him from mainland Britain.
          At the High Court in London, Mr Justice Potts gave Mr Adams's
       lawyers leave to seek a judicial review, saying there was an arguable
       case. He gave warning: "You will appreciate the result may well be
       that you succeed - equally it may well be that you fail".
          With the pressure group Liberty acting as his solicitors, Mr
       Adams is seeking to overturn the exclusion order made against him
       last October under the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions)
       Act 1989.
          He will also challenge the legality, under European and domestic law
       of the subsequent decision of the Home Secretary, Michael Howard, in
       January not to revoke the order.
          Yesterday's application for a review was unopposed by the Home
       Secretary.
          The judge ordered an urgent full hearing of the case because of the
       points of public importance raised.
          Robin Allen, appearing for Mr Adams, told the court that the Sinn
       Fein leader wanted to pay a brief visit to England to discuss the 
       political situation in Ulster with MPs, at the invitation of the 
       Labout MP Tony Benn. He accused the Home Secretary of "taking a 
       sledghammer to crack a nut".
          Mr Adams was first excluded from mainland Britain under an order
       made in 1982. It was lifted in 1983, when he was elected MP for West
       Belfast, but reimposed last year after an election defeat.
          Mr Allen argued that the government action was illegal under 
       European laws, which guaranteed citizens freedom of movement and 
       freedom of expression. The case marked the first time the English
       courts had had to deal with the concept of European Union citizenship.
          As a citizen of a European member state, Mr Adams had the right to
       move freely within UK territory, unless restrictions were properly 
       autherised under the treaty of Rome, as amended by the Maastricht
       Treaty. There were no such restrictions said Mr Allen.
          The European citizen's rights enjoyed by Mr Adams were in a 
       "superior class", he said, and "trumped" the Home Secretary's right
       to make orders under the domestic anti-terrorism laws.
          At the heart of the case was the question of freedom of 
       expression, he added.
          All Mr Adams wanted to do was to attend a meeting at Westminster
       to discuss the political situation in Northern Ireland. "Mr Adams 
       says that however much he may be reviled by politicians in this 
       country he is a person who ought to have the right to freedom of
       expression under community law".
          The Home Secretary had in the past allowed persons subject to 
       exclusion orders to attend court and give evidence in England. "Just
       as evidence in a court is an essential part of the democratic process,
       engaging in political dialogue in one meeting is also an essential and 
       important part of the political and democratic process".
          Mr Allen asked the judge to order an urgent hearing of the case as it
       could affect the prospects of peace in Northern Ireland. There was also
       the possibility of the case's being referred to the European Court of
       Justice, which would add a two year delay".  

    Gerry Adams has been invited to visit  the Basque Region of Spain.
    
    (from "El Pais" Friday 6 May)
    
    John
    

    Maybe ETA are going to teach the IRA how to explode bombs in tunnels.
    
    Simon

    re .8
    
    I'm not aware of any ETA bombs in tunnels, however they are as adept as
    the IRA in killing policemen and blowing up trucks.
    
    One of their "spectaculars" a few years ago was the assassination of
    Admiral Carrero Blanco, President of the Council of Ministers for
    Franco.
    
    The explosion was so great that it blew the car Carrero Blanco was
    travelling in so high it cleared a 3-storey building in the middle of
    Madrid.
    
    Lot of similarities between ETA and IRA in both causes and effects. 
    Also in their ability to slip over a handy border to escape pursuit,
    although the cooperation between the Spanish and French security forces
    had resulted in many arrests and killings (=assassinations=murders=just
    desserts, depending on your point of view) of ETA personnel.
    
    
    Interesting parallels.
    
    John