United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland
Encyclopedia
The United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland or more formally, the Special Envoy of the President and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is the top U.S. diplomat supporting the Northern Ireland peace process
.
in Northern Ireland taking the view that it was primarily an internal matter for their close ally, the United Kingdom
. However when Bill Clinton
became U.S. President that changed. When Clinton was on the campaign trail as the Democratic candidate for President in 1992, he suggested both orally and in a letter to Congressman Bruce Morrison
that he would favour the appointment of a Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. Clinton was not alone in supporting a more active U.S. involvement in Northern Ireland. On 23 February 1993, shortly after Clinton assumed Office as President, U.S. Congressman, Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy together with 16 co-sponsors sponsored a Congressional Resolution calling for the appointment of a Special Envoy. The Resolution called that it be:
However, the proposed Resolution initially came to nothing. Nevertheless, Clinton discussed the prospect of appointing a Special Envoy with the Irish
premier
, Albert Reynolds
when the two leaders first met on St. Patrick's Day in 1993. However Clinton deferred any appointment. When the Provisional Irish Republican Army
(IRA) declared a ceasefire in 1994, Sinn Féin
party leader, Gerry Adams
urged Washington to play a "nudging role" as it did in South Africa and the Middle East. Congressman Bruce Morrison
was considered a potential candidate.
as Special Envoy initially "infuriated" the London government. Mitchell was recognised as being more than a token envoy but someone representing a President with a deep interest in events. However, around the time of Mitchell’s appointment, it was agreed with both the British
, premier
John Major
and his Irish counterpart John Bruton
that Mitchell would chair an international commission on disarmament of paramilitary groups. Mitchell went on to successfully chair the talks that resulted in the Belfast Agreement
(also known as the Good Friday Agreement).
leader David Trimble
for setting a deadline for pulling out of power-sharing, accusing him of adding to a sense of crisis.
Later, Mitchell Reiss
was appointed as the Special Envoy. At the invitation of the British and Irish governments, Special Envoy Reiss participated in the peace process negotiations that took plac at Leeds Castle
in 2004. On 15 February 2007, Paula Dobriansky
, the U.S. Undersecretary for Democracy and Global Affairs at the State Department, was designaged the U.S. Envoy to Northern Ireland. The transition from the former Special Envoy, Ambassador Mitchell Reiss, took place on February 15, 2007. In February 2008, Special Envoy Dobriansky led a trade mission to Belfast.
Each of the Special Envoys has periodically reported to U.S. Congressional Committees on their activities and the status of the Northern Ireland peace process and other matters concerning Northern Ireland.
stated in response to questions that:
More recently, Democratic Party
candidate for the U.S. Presidency, Barack Obama
was reported in The Irish Times as having questioned the necessity to keep a U.S. Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. This drew a robust response from the Republican Party
U.S. Presidential candidate, Senator John McCain
. McCain has strongly backed retaining a U.S. Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. The Senator criticised Senator Obama’s position as demonstrating a willingness:
Northern Ireland peace process
The peace process, when discussing the history of Northern Ireland, is often considered to cover the events leading up to the 1994 Provisional Irish Republican Army ceasefire, the end of most of the violence of the Troubles, the Belfast Agreement, and subsequent political developments.-Towards a...
.
Origins
Traditionally U.S. leaders were reluctant to get involved in the TroublesThe Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
in Northern Ireland taking the view that it was primarily an internal matter for their close ally, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. However when Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
became U.S. President that changed. When Clinton was on the campaign trail as the Democratic candidate for President in 1992, he suggested both orally and in a letter to Congressman Bruce Morrison
Bruce Morrison
Bruce Andrew Morrison is a former Congressman from Connecticut and candidate for Governor of Connecticut. He is a lobbyist and immigration lawyer...
that he would favour the appointment of a Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. Clinton was not alone in supporting a more active U.S. involvement in Northern Ireland. On 23 February 1993, shortly after Clinton assumed Office as President, U.S. Congressman, Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy together with 16 co-sponsors sponsored a Congressional Resolution calling for the appointment of a Special Envoy. The Resolution called that it be:
However, the proposed Resolution initially came to nothing. Nevertheless, Clinton discussed the prospect of appointing a Special Envoy with the Irish
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
premier
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas , and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.The current Taoiseach is...
, Albert Reynolds
Albert Reynolds
Albert Reynolds , served as Taoiseach of Ireland, serving one term in office from 1992 until 1994. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize...
when the two leaders first met on St. Patrick's Day in 1993. However Clinton deferred any appointment. When the Provisional Irish Republican Army
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
(IRA) declared a ceasefire in 1994, Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
party leader, Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...
urged Washington to play a "nudging role" as it did in South Africa and the Middle East. Congressman Bruce Morrison
Bruce Morrison
Bruce Andrew Morrison is a former Congressman from Connecticut and candidate for Governor of Connecticut. He is a lobbyist and immigration lawyer...
was considered a potential candidate.
George Mitchell
It was not until 1995 that a decision to appoint a Special Envoy was finally made. The announcement of the appointment of former U.S. Senator, George J. MitchellGeorge J. Mitchell
George John Mitchell, Jr., is the former U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace under the Obama administration. A Democrat, Mitchell was a United States Senator who served as the Senate Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995...
as Special Envoy initially "infuriated" the London government. Mitchell was recognised as being more than a token envoy but someone representing a President with a deep interest in events. However, around the time of Mitchell’s appointment, it was agreed with both the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, premier
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
and his Irish counterpart John Bruton
John Bruton
John Gerard Bruton is an Irish politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 1994 to 1997. A minister under two taoisigh, Liam Cosgrave and Garret FitzGerald, Bruton held a number of the top posts in Irish government, including Minister for Finance , and Minister for Industry, Trade,...
that Mitchell would chair an international commission on disarmament of paramilitary groups. Mitchell went on to successfully chair the talks that resulted in the Belfast Agreement
Belfast Agreement
The Good Friday Agreement or Belfast Agreement , sometimes called the Stormont Agreement, was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process...
(also known as the Good Friday Agreement).
Later Envoys
The United States has continued to support the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and has demonstrated its readiness to assist the process in any way. President Bush announced on 10 June 2003 his intention to designate Ambassador Richard N. Haass as the Special Envoy. Haas was an active Envoy. In 2001, within a week of the Al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington, Mr Haass warned Irish Republicans that the suspected links between the IRA and Colombian terrorist groups could have "potentially serious consequences for the role of the United States in the peace process". Later, Mr Haass attacked then Ulster Unionist PartyUlster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...
leader David Trimble
David Trimble
William David Trimble, Baron Trimble, PC , is a politician from Northern Ireland. He served as Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party , was the first First Minister of Northern Ireland , and was a Member of the British Parliament . He is currently a life peer for the Conservative Party...
for setting a deadline for pulling out of power-sharing, accusing him of adding to a sense of crisis.
Later, Mitchell Reiss
Mitchell Reiss
Mitchell B. Reiss is a senior American diplomat who became the 27th president of Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland on July 1, 2010. He served as Director of Policy Planning at the United States Department of State under Colin Powell...
was appointed as the Special Envoy. At the invitation of the British and Irish governments, Special Envoy Reiss participated in the peace process negotiations that took plac at Leeds Castle
Leeds Castle
Leeds Castle, southeast of Maidstone, Kent, England, dates back to 1119, though a Saxon fort stood on the same site from the 9th century. The castle is built on islands in a lake formed by the River Len to the east of the village of Leeds....
in 2004. On 15 February 2007, Paula Dobriansky
Paula Dobriansky
Paula Jon Dobriansky is an American foreign policy expert who has served in key roles as a diplomat and policy maker in the administrations of five U.S. presidents, both Democrat and Republican. She is a specialist in the areas of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union as well as...
, the U.S. Undersecretary for Democracy and Global Affairs at the State Department, was designaged the U.S. Envoy to Northern Ireland. The transition from the former Special Envoy, Ambassador Mitchell Reiss, took place on February 15, 2007. In February 2008, Special Envoy Dobriansky led a trade mission to Belfast.
Each of the Special Envoys has periodically reported to U.S. Congressional Committees on their activities and the status of the Northern Ireland peace process and other matters concerning Northern Ireland.
Future
The U.S. has at times contemplated whether to terminate the position of U.S. Special Envoy on Northern Ireland. In 2001, then U.S. Secretary of State, Colin PowellColin Powell
Colin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African American to serve in that position. During his military...
stated in response to questions that:
More recently, Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
candidate for the U.S. Presidency, Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
was reported in The Irish Times as having questioned the necessity to keep a U.S. Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. This drew a robust response from the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
U.S. Presidential candidate, Senator John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
. McCain has strongly backed retaining a U.S. Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. The Senator criticised Senator Obama’s position as demonstrating a willingness: