[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 36 (Tuesday, March 28, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1811-S1812]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              SENATOR MIKULSKI'S TRIP TO NORTHERN IRELAND

 Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, Senator Mikulski recently returned 
from a visit to Northern Ireland, where she held productive discussions 
with both Catholics and Protestants who are working together for 
community and economic development. As columnist Thomas Oliphant wrote 
in a perceptive column on March 19 in the Boston Globe, Senator 
Mikulski's trip, and her work for grassroots development and 
cooperation in these communities, are important both symbolically and 
practically.
  As all of us who share the dream of a permanent and lasting peace are 
aware, much remains to be done to carry out the peace process. I 
commend Senator Mikulski for her initiative and leadership on this 
issue, and I ask that Mr. Oliphant's column about her trip may be 
printed in the Record.
  The column follows:

                 [From the Boston Globe, Mar. 19, 2000]

                       New Optimism Out of Ulster

                          (By Thomas Oliphant)

       The brain connected to the freshest pair of eyes to look 
     into Northern Ireland in some time was somewhat surprised by 
     two things.
       The first observation by Senator Barbara Mikulski was that 
     the six counties' political leaders are themselves surprised 
     at their inability to get out of the stalemate-ditches they 
     keep driving into.
       The second was that during an intensive visit framed around 
     what's really exciting in the North these days--cross-
     community, practical efforts by Protestants and Catholics to 
     get basic things done together--it was not until she got to 
     the seat of government at Stormont that she heard the word 
     ``decommissioning,'' the absurd euphemism that refers to the 
     turning in of weapons by paramilitary organizations.
       What this shows is merely how the pull of the violent, 
     unjust sectarian past blocks a settlement that the people 
     want. It has been going on for the two years since the U.S.-
     brokered Good Friday Agreement put all the building blocks 
     for reconciliation except local political will into place.
       ``But,'' says the Maryland senator, ``even though the peace 
     process appears to be on hold, there is another informal but 
     absolutely crucial peace process going on at the community 
     and neighborhood level.''
       Mikulski was referring to the overwhelming majority's 
     intense desire to put the Troubles in their past. That desire 
     is creating a ``social glue'' that has enormous potential for 
     Northern Ireland's long-range evolution.
       By far the most important example exists under the umbrella 
     of the Northern Ireland Voluntary Trust. Beneath this 
     umbrella exists all manner of activities that involve 
     Catholics and Protestants informally in specific tasks. There 
     are groups that include former prisoners as well as families 
     of the victims of violence and their survivors; organizations 
     working on environmental issues as well as community centers 
     and playgrounds; unions and microeconomic development 
     activists; work on mental health issues as well as children's 
     health problems. As Mikulski notes, it is all specific and 
     local--and loaded with implications.
       The best symbol, in the North Belfast Community Development 
     Council, is the cellular phones in use during the Protestant 
     marching season. Rumors are chased down, Catholics hear that 
     a particular march will halt at a predesignated spot without 
     any triumphalist chanting and should thus be of no major 
     concern, and armed with that assurance, keep their own 
     hotheads in check.
       A year ago, when some 50 of the trust's most active female 
     activists met with U.S. supporters, they were so fresh to 
     their cause and nervous about the impact that the names of 
     the participants were kept private. Mikulski arranged a 
     meeting for them with women in the U.S. Senate, most of whom 
     came to politics via similar routes of local activism.
       Mikulski's involvement at this delicate stage is important 
     both because of what she has done and who she is. She got 
     into her business because of her fight against a highway. 
     Years later she remains a grass-roots political leader, able 
     to understand the byzantine nature of Northern Ireland's 
     street-level culture. And she is a powerful Democratic 
     senator on the Appropriations Committee who is comfortable 
     working across party lines.
       Mikulski notes that the Fund for Ireland, the basic aid 
     network to which the U.S. government commits $20 million, is 
     an excellent

[[Page S1812]]

     operation that has been especially useful in economic 
     development and other brick and mortar activities. But she 
     also suggests that the time has come to ``take a fresh look 
     at the U.S. role to think about supporting this cross-
     communal activity.''
       She is also blunt about looking at the trust's activities 
     and potential, official U.S. support without blinders. 
     ``Their idea, what makes them so worthwhile,'' she said, ``is 
     their very careful focus on specific needs and projects. This 
     is not some gooshy-poo, Irish sensitivity training where 
     everybody gets in a hot tub and bonds. It's serious work. The 
     fund has done a very good job, but I think we're now at a 
     different place.''
       What she says about U.S. policy also should spark new 
     thinking about private American support for Ireland. Given 
     the roaring condition of the Irish Republic's economy, 
     traditional charity and philanthropy appears to be less 
     important than the cutting-edge activism across sectarian 
     lines of the trust's participants.
       They cannot be a substitute for the appalling failure of 
     politicians in the North to transcend the past. But they do 
     demonstrate how much of a difference individuals can make 
     when they band together.
       There now exist networks of community organizations that 
     personify the broader refusal to regress, and they need all 
     the support they can get. But they can't fill the vacuum 
     without their so-called leaders. ``It's like when you put 
     your VCR on pause,'' said Mikulski. ``It holds for a while, 
     but eventually the old tape starts playing again.''

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