CAPITOL
HILL. Thursday, January 20, 2005 — Pressure
is mounting on the U.S. government to ban Mark Thatcher
from the United States.
Father
Sean Mc Manus, President of the Capitol Hill-based
Irish National Caucus, has written to Dr. Mitchell
Reiss, President Bush's Special Envoy for Northern
Ireland, pressing him to make sure that the U.S.
does not apply a double standard: "one set
of rules for the English Establishment and another
for Irish Catholics".
"What
do you think would happen to a Black man from Africa
(or a Catholic from Belfast) if he pleaded guilty
to a coup attempt in England?
Do
you think they would be allowed into the U.S.? Do
you think they would NOT be placed on the 'no fly'
list?
I
have written to you before about how nothing infuriates
Irish-Americans more than the double-standard: one
set of rules for the English Establishment and another
for Irish Catholics.
If
the U.S. is not to be seen as applying a double
standard, it surely must ban Mark Thatcher from
the U.S., just as it has banned Irish Catholics
with convictions against them.
Now
that the peace-process is in such jeopardy, the
U.S. must not be seen exercising a double standard
by favoring the privileged and punishing the poor,
like Ciaran Ferry. I look forward to your response."
Father
Mc Manus, explaining his letter said, "I wrote
to Dr. Reiss because obviously this issue has implications
for the Irish peace-process, as it is about U.S.
fairness and balance."
"And
it is something Irish-Americans — like all
other Americans — should have a say about.
They cannot do anything about bank robberies in
Belfast or about the behavior of the British government
or Ian Paisley, but they can by right and duty have
a say about their own government."
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