[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992, Book I)]
[July 30, 1992]
[Page 1206]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 1206]]

Message to the Senate Transmitting the Protocol to the Ireland-United 
States Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation Treaty

July 30, 1992
To the Senate of the United States:
    With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to 
ratification, I transmit herewith the Protocol to the Treaty of 
Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between the United States of America 
and Ireland of January 21, 1950, signed at Washington on June 24, 1992. 
I transmit also, for the information of the Senate, the report of the 
Department of State with respect to this protocol.
    This protocol will establish the legal basis by which the United 
States may issue investor (E-2) visas to qualified nationals of Ireland. 
The protocol modifies the U.S.-Ireland friendship, commerce, and 
navigation (FCN) treaty to allow for entry and sojourn of investors. 
This is a benefit provided in the large majority of U.S. FCN treaties. 
It is also a benefit already accorded to U.S. investors in Ireland who 
are eligible for visas that offer comparable benefits to those that 
would be accorded nationals of Ireland under E-2 visa status.
    As I reaffirmed in my December 1991 policy statement, the United 
States has long championed the benefits of an open investment climate, 
both at home and abroad. U.S. policy is to welcome market-driven foreign 
investment and to permit capital to flow freely to seek its highest 
return. Ireland also provides an open investment climate. Visas for 
investors facilitate investment activity and thus directly support our 
mutual policy objectives of an open investment climate.
    I recommend that the Senate consider this protocol as soon as 
possible and give its advice and consent to ratification of the protocol 
at an early date.

                                                             George Bush

The White House,
July 30, 1992.