Unionism will need to counter SF propaganda in US,

Posted by Jim on August 1, 2017

Letters to the Editor
News Letter. Belfast. Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Your editorial (‘Unionism will need to counter SF propaganda in US,’ July 24) claims that US Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is partial to England’s control of the North/Northern Ireland. For the record, your readers should know this: in one of the early congressional hearings on the International Fund for Ireland, I sat in front of Senator McConnell as he expressed certain reservations about the fund, among them this memorable one: that it would only further subsidize British occupation of Northern Ireland! Needless to say — although I supported the fund given certain conditions, which we had attached to the legislation — Senator McConnell’s comments warmed my Fermanagh heart. Your editorial labors under an extraordinary ‘unionist’ assumption, despite abundant evidence to the contrary: that the Scots-Irish (to use your term) would not be in favor of the republican form of government. Had that been the case, they would have supported King George III in 1776. Instead, of course, they proudly joined George Washington’s army and kicked England out of America. God bless their noble souls. Their descendants always join me in my signature prayer: ‘God bless America and God save Ireland.’

Father Sean McManus, President, Irish National Caucus, Washington DC