Goods can come in to supermarkets from the EU through the Republic. The DUP have ensured that from January 2021 there will be an economic united
Brian Feeney. Irish News. Belfast. Wednesday, July 8, 2020
While the Assembly engaged in one of its periodic slugfests, this time about Bobby Storey’s funeral, important developments for future business and trade became public.
As usual however, the priority of pillorying Sinn Féin overrode any sense of proportion regarding real priorities.
Last Friday a leaked HMRC [Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs] document showed that, contrary to repeated assertions by [Pime Minister Boris] Johnson and his sycophants, like the current proconsul here [NI Secretary of State], that there will be documentation required for goods traveling from Britain to The north; they will in fact be treated as exports. Businesses in GB – deal or no deal – seeking to send goods here will have to complete three forms for customs, security and transit. It’s called a ‘Goods Vehicle Movement Service’: all hauliers or owners of freight will need to have the forms completed before loading a ferry or aircraft to the north.
Since last October when Johnson agreed to the Irish Protocol he and his yes men and women have repeatedly said there will be no forms, knowing full well that that’s exactly opposite to what they signed up to. On one of his first proconsular visits the present incumbent, who’s busily dismantling what turns out to be the ‘New Decade Same Approach’ conjob, repeated in exactly the same words as Johnson that there would be no border in the Irish Sea despite everyone knowing the opposite is true.
For eight months the British government has been obfuscating, ignoring the pleas of businesses to provide some details. In the same category is the British government’s response to last week’s revelations, “Our approach, welcomed by businesses…there will be no tariffs for internal UK trade in any circumstances”. Businesses don’t welcome the government’s approach and “no tariffs” dishonestly ignores the documentation which constitutes non-tariff barriers to trade.
There are at least two inescapable facts which follow from last October’s deal which the British government has assiduously denied. First, goods arriving here from GB will be more expensive. Once you add three layers of paperwork, even if they’re amalgamated and electronic, it’s going to cost businesses money which they will pass on to sellers and buyers here. Secondly, many GB companies are going to conclude, especially after Covid-19, that they don’t need the extra bother and expense for such a small market and will stop trading and close their outlets here.
Now what is the Executive doing about any of this? In vain does South Down MP Chris Hazzard call for the entire Executive to come up with a coherent plan to deal with this economic crisis. Why does the Executive not even try to press for a deal – already offered by Michel Barnier – to wave through goods for the big supermarkets here, given that 80 per cent of their products come from the EU?
The answer is the DUP. They prevent a coherent response because, like the British government, they are in denial about the damage they have done to business (and agriculture) here. According to Chris Hazzard, Edwin Poots at agriculture is disregarding the work done by DAERA officials to develop essential infrastructure at ports, thereby blocking progress.
What is laughingly known as ‘Economy’ under Diane Dodds, a dyed in the wool Brexiteer, will do everything to support the British government’s headlong rush to the cliff top. Instead, she seems more focused on photo-ops with company managements than taking robust action to protect their prospects.
In short a coherent response is impossible. There is no Executive position. First and deputy first ministers speak to the joint committee overseeing the implementation of the protocol and exhibit diametrically opposed positions, though they won’t tell us what they say, or even what assurances they’ve asked for. Will there be exit declarations required from businesses here sending goods to GB or not?
Still, look on the bright side. Goods can come in to supermarkets from the EU through the Republic. The DUP have ensured that from January 2021 there will be an economic united Ireland.END,
A quick post about some of the Irish Americans who contributed to this nation, and who are featured in our new exhibition here at the Musuem.
The first American general to die in battle was Irish: Dublin-native Richard Montgomery is the first general to have been killed in battle during the American Revolutionary War. Montgomery was killed in the Battle of Quebec during the 1775 invasion of Canada.
Three of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were born in Ireland: Three of the eight foreign-born men were natives of Ireland. These Irish patriots of the American Revolution are James Smith, from Northern Ireland; George Taylor, an Irish native and a member of the Committee of Correspondence; and Matthew Thornton, an Irishman who became a member of the Continental Congress in 1776.
An Irishman designed the White House: Irishman James Hoban designed the White House, modeled after an Irish building. The presidential residence is officially twinned with Dublin’s Leinster House.
An Irishman wrote the melody for the Star Spangled Banner: In 1913, on the song’s hundredth anniversary, a scholarly commission was formed to determine conclusively the song’s origins. It finally came to the conclusion that the music most probably originated in Ireland. While the original melody was a London drinking song called “Anacreon in Heaven,” created by John Stafford Smith in 1793, Smith never claimed authorship of the music. Experts on the commission narrowed the anthem’s origins to one of two possible Irish musicians who lived during the 18th century. The first was William McKeague from County Fermanagh, who some believed composed it as the regimental song for the Royal Inniskillin Fusiliers. However, the more likely writer of the famous melody is the greatest composer Ireland ever had – Turlough O’Carolan, the last of the Irish bards. The O’Carolan song regarded as the “ancestor” of the national anthem is his 1723 tune “Bumper Squire Jones,” is in fact metrically identical to Key’s famous song!
1775-1781: The Revolutionary War It is estimated that one-third to one-half of George Washington’s army were Irish born or first-generation, including 1,492 officers and 26 generals, 15 of whom were Irish natives, chief among them Commodore John Barry. Washington is quoted as saying: “When our friendless standards were first unfurled, who were the strangers who first mustered around our staff, and when it reeled in the light, who more brilliantly sustained it than Erin’s generous sons. Ireland, thou friend of my country in my country’s most friendless days, much injured, much enduring land, accept this poor tribute from one who esteems thy worth, and mourns thy desolation. May the God of Heaven, in His justice and mercy, grant thee more prosperous fortunes, and in His own time, cause the sun of Freedom to shed its benign radiance on the Emerald Isle.”
An Irishman is the “father” of the Navy: John Barry, a native of Co Wexford, is known as the “Father of the American Navy.” He and his crew fought and won the final naval battle.
1879: Unions In 1879, Terence Powderly, a son of Irish immigrants, was elected head of the Knights of Labor, a national association of labor unions. Under his stewardship, the association grew to include more than 700,000 members. Mother Jones, Mary Harris from Cork, toured the country, advocating for workers’ rights – she was called “The Most Dangerous Woman in America.” With the increase in numbers, the unions were better able to facilitate strikes and dramatically improve working conditions for U.S. laborers. At the turn of the twentieth century, Sam Gompers and P.J. McGuire, a second-generation Irish-American, co-founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL). By 1910, nearly half the AFL’s 110 member unions were led by Irish-born or Irish-American men. In 1920, union membership rose to new heights, reaching five million nationwide. In 1955, George Meany, who began as a plumber’s apprentice, became the first head of the merged American Federation of Labor — Congress of Industrial Workers (AFL-CIO), the nation’s largest labor organization. In 1995, John Sweeney, a second-generation Irish-American, was elected president, serving 5 terms.
And of course, millions of anonymous Irish came to this country, fleeing famine, poverty, prejudice, seeking opportunity, and worked with others to build the canals, railways, and cities of their new home. They worked hard, passed on their heritage and culture to their children, and were proud to be Americans.
Happy Independence Day to everyone, especially all the people who come to America seeking a better life.
Malachy McAllister has not gone silently over the eastern horizon.
And while it’s unlikely they will end up being pen pals, McAllister wouldn’t object at all if President Trump sent him at least a postcard in response to a letter he has mailed the president’s way.
McAllister, who was deported from the U.S. just a few weeks ago despite appeals from members of Congress from both parties directed at the president and the Department of Homeland Security, states his case in the letter, and also makes an appeal for continued support by the U.S. for the Good Friday Agreement.
In his letter McAllister states in part: “My name is Malachy McAllister. I was deported from the U.S. by your administration on Wednesday 06/10/2020. I urge you to read this letter and commit to supporting the Good Friday Agreement and peace and justice in Ireland.
“Last November you ordered a two year stay of my deportation and requested your staff to resolve my case, but the Department of Homeland Security ignored your order and deported me six months later. You have let down Irish America and ignored the Good Friday Agreement by failing to stand behind your decision.
“My family and I like many Catholics and nationalists in Northern Ireland were treated like second class citizens and were the victims of terrorism under British rule. Loyalists acting with the British security forces tried to assassinate me. Yet I was the one labeled a ‘terrorist’ with no regard to the context of Irish history or the GFA. Harassment and persecution of Catholics and Irish Nationalist’s by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (Northern Ireland Police disbanded in 2001) and British Army included a policy to criminalize our community and the Irish struggle.
“Many people implored you to act, but you ignored them. My supporters include bipartisan Congressional members, judges, religious leaders, military officers, and law enforcement officials.
Your own sister Federal Court Judge Maryanne Trump Berry in her 2006 Third Circuit opinion.
The Catholic Church, Archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolan.
Former New York Homeland Security Chair Peter King and bipartisan Senators and Congressional Representatives.
The Irish Embassy and Irish Ambassador.
Patrick Lynch head of the New York City PBA
Members of the 69th Infantry Regiment.New York
The Ancient Order of Hibernians who represent 40,000 Irish Americans and the lawyers and judges of the New York Brehon Law Society
“Mr. President, despite this overwhelming support and my 24 years in this country as a law-abiding member of my community you decided to reverse your decision to resolve my case and deport me in a manner that defies reason. You listened to a few securocrats within your administration who have no understanding of Irish history and sided with the British – something President George Washington would not have succumbed to. In doing so, you have dealt a blow to the GFA, which set a path towards peace, justice and equality in Ireland.
“I should mention that my deportation was carried out while I have a broken collar bone, fractured rib, and sprained neck. DHS ignored all medical documentation and advise from doctors to wait until my injuries were healed and deported me via a private air ambulance at great taxpayer expense. The result was that my injuries were aggravated and I was hospitalized a day after my return.
“I am disappointed at how unceremoniously I was deported but I am not bitter. I am thankful for my time in the U.S. and the support and friendship I received from so many in Irish America and beyond.
“I am confident that a significant number of the over 37 million Americans who claim Irish ancestry will vote for the Presidential candidate who shows support for the Good Friday Agreement and peace and justice in Ireland. Mr. President, it is never too late to do what is right!”
WASHINGTON — United States intelligence officers and Special Operations forces in Afghanistan alerted their superiors as early as January to a suspected Russian plot to pay bounties to the Taliban to kill American troops in Afghanistan, according to officials briefed on the matter.
The crucial information that led the spies and commandos to focus on the bounties included the recovery of a large amount of American cash from a raid on a Taliban outpost that prompted suspicions. Interrogations of captured militants and criminals played a central role in making the intelligence community confident in its assessment that the Russians had offered and paid bounties in 2019, another official has said.
Armed with this information, military and intelligence officials have been reviewing American and other coalition combat casualties since early last year to determine whether any were victims of the plot. Four Americans were killed in combat in early 2020, but the Taliban have not attacked American positions since a February agreement to end the long-running war in Afghanistan.
The details added to the picture of the classified intelligence assessment, which The New York Times reported Friday has been under discussion inside the Trump administration since at least March, and emerged as the White House confronted a growing chorus of criticism on Sunday over its apparent failure to authorize a response to Russia.
Mr. Trump defended himself by denying the Times report that he had been briefed on the intelligence, expanding on a similar White House rebuttal a day earlier. But leading congressional Democrats and some Republicans demanded a response to Russia that, according to officials, the administration has yet to authorize.
The president “needs to immediately expose and handle this, and stop Russia’s shadow war,” Representative Adam Kinzinger, Republican of Illinois and a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote on Twitter.
Appearing on the ABC program “This Week,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she had not been briefed on the intelligence assessment and had asked for an immediate report to Congress. She accused Mr. Trump of wanting “to ignore” any charges against Russia.
“Russia has never gotten over the humiliation they suffered in Afghanistan, and now they are taking it out on us, our troops,” she said of the Soviet Union’s bloody war there in the 1980s. “This is totally outrageous. You would think that the minute the president heard of it, he would want to know more instead of denying that he knew anything.”
Spokespeople for the C.I.A., the director of national intelligence and the Pentagon declined to comment on the new findings. A National Security Council spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Though the White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, claimed on Saturday that Mr. Trump had not been briefed about the intelligence report, one American official had told The Times that the report was briefed to the highest levels of the White House. Another said it was included in the President’s Daily Brief, a compendium of foreign policy and national security intelligence compiled for Mr. Trump to read.
Ms. McEnany did not challenge The Times’s reporting on the existence of the intelligence assessment, a National Security Council interagency meeting about it in late March and the White House’s inaction. Multiple other news organizations also subsequently reported on the assessment.
The officials briefed on the matter said that the assessment had been treated as a closely held secret but that the administration expanded briefings about it over the last week — including sharing information about it with the British government, whose forces were among those said to have been targeted.
Republicans in Congress demanded more information from the Trump administration about what happened and how the White House planned to respond.
Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third-ranking House Republican, said in a Twitter post on Sunday: “If reporting about Russian bounties on U.S. forces is true, the White House must explain: 1. Why weren’t the president or vice president briefed? Was the info in the PDB? 2. Who did know and when? 3. What has been done in response to protect our forces & hold Putin accountable?”
Multiple Republicans retweeted Ms. Cheney’s post. Representative Daniel Crenshaw, Republican of Texas and a former member of the Navy SEALs, amplified her message, tweeting, “We need answers.”
In a statement in response to questions, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, said he had long warned about Russia’s work to undermine American interests in the Middle East and southwest Asia and noted that he wrote an amendment last year rebuking Mr. Trump’s withdrawal of forces from Syria and Afghanistan.
“The United States needs to prioritize defense resources, maintain a sufficient regional military presence and continue to impose serious consequences on those who threaten us and our allies — like our strikes in Syria and Afghanistan against ISIS, the Taliban and Russian mercenary forces that threatened our partners,” Mr. McConnell said.
Aides for other top Republicans either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday, including Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the top House Republican; Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, the acting chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee; and Senator Jim Risch of Idaho, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
In addition to saying he was never “briefed or told” about the intelligence report — a formulation that went beyond the White House denial of any formal briefing — Mr. Trump also cast doubt on the assessment’s credibility, which statements from his subordinates had not.
Specifically, he described the intelligence report as being about “so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by Russians”; the report described bounties paid to Taliban militants by Russian military intelligence officers, not direct attacks. Mr. Trump also suggested that the developments could be a “hoax” and questioned whether The Times’s sources — government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity — existed.
Mr. Trump then pivoted to attack former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who criticized the president on Saturday for failing to punish Russia for offering bounties to the Taliban, as well as Mr. Biden’s son, Hunter, who is the target of unsubstantiated claims that he helped a Ukrainian energy firm curry favor with the Obama administration when his father was vice president.
“Nobody’s been tougher on Russia than the Trump Administration,” Mr. Trump tweeted. “With Corrupt Joe Biden & Obama, Russia had a field day, taking over important parts of Ukraine — Where’s Hunter?”
American officials said the Russian plot to pay bounties to Taliban fighters came into focus over the past several months after intelligence analysts and Special Operations forces put together key pieces of evidence.
One official said the seizure of a large amount of American cash at one Taliban site got “everybody’s attention” in Afghanistan. It was not clear when the money was recovered.
Two officials said the information about the bounty hunting was “well known” among the intelligence community in Afghanistan, including the C.I.A.’s chief of station and other top officials there, like the military commandos hunting the Taliban. The information was distributed in intelligence reports and highlighted in some of them.
The assessment was compiled and sent up the chain of command to senior military and intelligence officials, eventually landing at the highest levels of the White House. The Security Council meeting in March came at a delicate time, as the coronavirus pandemic was becoming a crisis and prompting shutdowns around the country.
A former American official said the intelligence analyst who briefs the president and the national security adviser, Robert C. O’Brien, working with his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, would have been involved in any decision to brief Mr. Trump on Russia’s activities. The director of the C.I.A., Gina Haspel, might have also weighed in, the former official said.
Ms. McEnany cited all three of those senior officials in her statement saying the president had not been briefed.
National security officials have tracked Russia’s relationship with the Taliban for years and determined that Moscow has provided financial and material support to senior and regional Taliban leaders.
While Russia has at times cooperated with the United States and appeared interested in Afghan stability, it often seems to work at crosscurrents with its own national interest if the end result is damage to American national interests, said a former senior Trump White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security assessments.
Revenge is also a factor in Russia’s support for the Taliban, the official said. Russia has been keen to even the scales after a bloody confrontation in 2018 in Syria, when a massive U.S. counterattack killed hundreds of Syrian forces along with Russian mercenaries nominally supported by the Kremlin.
“They are keeping a score sheet, and they want to punish us for that incident,” the official said.
Both Russia and the Taliban have denied the American intelligence assessment.
Ms. Pelosi said that if the president had not, in fact, been briefed, then the country should be concerned that his administration was afraid to share with him information regarding Russia.
Ms. Pelosi said that the episode underscored Mr. Trump’s accommodating stance toward Russia and that with him, “all roads lead to Putin.”
“This is as bad as it gets, and yet the president will not confront the Russians on this score, denies being briefed,” she said. “Whether he is or not, his administration knows, and some of our allies who work with us in Afghanistan have been briefed and accept this report.”
John R. Bolton, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, said on “This Week” that he was not aware of the intelligence assessment, but he questioned Mr. Trump’s response on Twitter.
“What would motivate the president to do that, because it looks bad if Russians are paying to kill Americans and we’re not doing anything about it?” Mr. Bolton said. “The presidential reaction is to say: ‘It’s not my responsibility. Nobody told me about it.’ And therefore to duck any complaints that he hasn’t acted effectively.”
Mr. Bolton said this summed up Mr. Trump’s decision-making on national security issues. “It’s just unconnected to the reality he’s dealing with.”
Eric Schmitt is a senior writer who has traveled the world covering terrorism and national security. He was also the Pentagon correspondent. A member of the Times staff since 1983, he has shared three Pulitzer Prizes. @EricSchmittNYT
Adam Goldman reports on the F.B.I. from Washington and is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner. @adamgoldmanNYT
Nicholas Fandos is a national reporter based in the Washington bureau. He has covered Congress since 2017 and is part of a team of reporters who have chronicled investigations by the Justice Department and Congress into President Trump and his administration. @npfandos
Daniel O’Connell in a 1836 watercolor by Bernard Mulrenin.
Between the Lines / By Peter McDermott
Irish singer-songwriter Imelda May said in a poem earlier this month, “You Don’t Get To Be Racist And Irish.”
She’s a big talent and has a way with words. One can’t say she doesn’t act from the best of intentions or that her aims aren’t hopeful.
The problem here is the uncritical way the media lapped this up. RTÉsaid the poem was “stunning,” while Irish Central labeled it “powerful.” One would have thought at this point the right thing to say is: “You don’t get to be racist. Period.” Ditch the simplistic, self-regarding nationalist narrative.
Keep up to date with the latest news with The Irish Echo
Over the past seven days, every Premier League player, every coach, every referee and other match official has taken the knee as part of the struggle against racism and in solidarity with the Black Lives Matters movement. The idea was pretty elemental in a sport in which players face racial abuse constantly. Get the message across: inclusion, equality before the law, full citizenship.
The use of 19th-century Irish history was a strong argument when it came to making a case for people being accepted as refugees and as immigrants into Ireland in the late 20th century and into this one. It resonated. “You Don’t Get to Be Racist and Irish,” on the other hand, is convoluted and confused.
It is no more truthful than Brendan Gleeson’s Garda Gerry Boyle, AKA “The Guard,” saying, “I’m Irish. Racism is part of my culture.”
Brendan Behan suggested that it was part of our culture in the sense that the Irish were just as bad in their roles as European whites when dealing with non-white people overseas. Why can’t we deal with the actual history?
The poem invokes unnamed militant nationalist heroes and martyrs, but some of them were racists; and it wasn’t the cherished hope of those who left Ireland starving that the slaves should be free. Far from it.
Conjuring up an imaginary non-racist past doesn’t help. But we should study and celebrate the Liberator Daniel O’Connell’s abolitionism, and understand the extent to which he was going against the grain. Also fighting a brave uphill battle were the nine young people, eight of them women, who went on strike at the Henry Street outlet of Dunnes Stores in Dublin in the 1980s. They refused to handle produce from Apartheid South Africa, in accordance with their union’s stated policy.
And at a time when we’re marking the passing of Jean Kennedy Smith, we might put her brothers in the O’Connell category: men who often used their privilege in the service of principle. A woman recalling last week in the comments section of the New York Times obituary the contributions of Ambassador Smith’s siblings, male and female, added: “As a person of color, I didn’t feel safe in this country unless there was a Kennedy in the Senate.”
Explaining his support for Robert Kennedy in the 1968 Democratic primaries, singer-songwriter Bobby Darin, a white Italian-American from the Bronx, said the senator “has a spiritual understanding of what it means to be poor,” while Sammy Davis Jr. said about RFK, “No one relates to the black man like Bobby.”
