Brother Hibernians and Friends, Currently before the Senate is a bipartisan resolution sponsored by Senators Mendez of New Jersey and Collins of Maine reaffirming U.S. support for the Good Friday Agreement.
Twenty years on, many of the provisions of the agreement designed to cement a lasting peace in the north of Ireland have not been implemented. Now, once again, the peace wrought by this historic agreement is under threat. Several loyalist paramilitaries have recently withdrawn their support for the Good Friday Agreement, one prominent DUP politician has called for “guerrilla war” to be waged against the “Irish Protocol” implemented for the sole reason to make the Brexit that the DUP campaigned for possible; it is another example of their continuing belief that they should have their cake and eat it too.
Currently, the U.S. Senate is in recess, which means Senators should be back in their local offices. Currently, 13 Senators have joined them in co-sponsored the bill (Mr. Menendez, Ms. Collins, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Leahy, Mr.Markey, Mr. Coons, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Schumer, Ms. Cantwell, Mr.Casey, Mr. Booker, Mr. Kaine, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Cardin, And Mr.Reed). How much more powerful would this important message of the priority that the U.S. place on the peace process be if it had more sponsors and greater bipartisanship? For the cause of a just peace in Ireland, we call upon you brothers to take ten minutes of your time and call your two senators as follows:
- Please call both your Senators
- Their contact details may be found on the AOH website at https://aoh.com/political-education/elected-representative-lookup/ .
- Enter your zip code and links to your Senators websites will be given
- Please find and call their local office (do not call their Washington Office as thy are on break).
- Ask to speak to the Senators Aide on Foreign Affairs
- On getting the Aide or “Can I take a Message”:
- If your Senator in one of the 15 above who are already on the Resolution, thank them for their support.
- If your Senator is not currently a sponsor, ask him/her to sing onto the resolution. Feel free to use your own words, but a sample script is below:
My name is ________, and I am a constituent of the Senators from (town). As a proud Irish American and Member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, I am deeply concerned about recent threats to the Good Friday Agreement and the peace process in Northern Ireland. All Americans can take just pride in helping bring peace to Northern Ireland and we cannot see that noble legacy squandered or the peace of Northern Ireland threatened. Senators Menendez and Collins are putting forward Senate Resolution 117 “A resolution expressing support for the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement” which is being co-sponsored by several of your Senate colleagues. In addition to voting for the measure when it comes to the floor, I would like to ask Senator (name) to please sign on to the bill as a co-sponsor and help send a clear message that peace in Northern Ireland is a priority to the people of (state) and America.
Thank you in advance for your support of this important initiative
Neil Cosgrove Political Education Chairman