Leaders of the Irish Republican Army’s (IRA) political wing head to St Patrick’s Day events in the United States this week battered by a furore over IRA crime, shut out of talks in Washington and banned from its annual fund-raising drive among Irish-Americans.
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, who is now in New York, has been omitted from official events hosted by US President George Bush and denied a meeting with the powerful Irish-American Senator from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy.
Washington has now also banned Sinn Fein from fund-raising during its annual pilgrimage this week to the United States, according to reports.
Celebrations around St Patrick’s Day — held every March 17 in honour of Ireland’s patron saint — have traditionally been used to rally support among Irish-Americans, who are major contributors to the party coffers.
But this year, according to Britain’s Times newspaper, US State Department officials say it will be ”unacceptable” for Sinn Fein to go seeking cash.
The cold-shoulder tactics in Washington come amid outrage over a series of crimes, notably the murder of a Catholic father-of-two in Belfast, blamed on the IRA.
The family of Robert McCartney, stabbed to death outside a pub on January 30, has blamed IRA members for the killing and waged a public campaign to have them tried in court.
It has also accused the IRA of intimidation, since none of the dozens of people at the pub has come forward as witnesses.
The IRA has also been blamed by the British and Irish governments of being responsible for a spectacular bank raid in Belfast in December that netted £26,5-million, just at a time when Sinn Fein was in negotiations over joining a power-sharing government for the province.
Bush has refused to meet Adams, but has invited McCartney’s five sisters and his companion to the White House for a St Patrick’s Day reception.
Kennedy’s spokesperson, announcing the senator was shelving the meeting with Adams — held every St Patrick’s Day since the Good Friday peace deal in 1998 — put the responsibility firmly on Sinn Fein to help stem IRA crime.
McCartney’s death, she said, underscored ”the need for IRA violence and criminality to stop and for Sinn Fein to cooperate with police”.
Meanwhile, Sinn Fein’s strongest supporter in the Senate, Republican Peter King, reportedly called on the IRA to disband, saying it is standing in the way of a peace pact between northern Ireland’s Catholics and Protestants.
Adams’s weeklong stay in the US, which kicked off on Saturday, is peppered with fund-raising events, including a dinner on Wednesday with the America Ireland Fund, and it is unclear how his agenda will be modified by the ban.
In 2000, Britain outlawed fund-raising abroad for all parties except those in northern Ireland, which were also allowed to keep their donations anonymous because of the threat of intimidation to donors.
Security sources quoted by The Times said Sinn Fein has raised between £15-million and £20-million in the US since former president Bill Clinton lifted a ban on such fund-raising in 1995.
In the Irish Republic, where Sinn Fein is also a party, it is outlawed like all other parties from accepting funds from supporters abroad. — Sapa-AFP