Reflections on St. Patrick's Day - from Brussels

Last Tuesday evening I found myself observing St. Patrick's Day in a somewhat unlikely place - in a hotel room alone across from Kitty O'Shea's in Brussels. It's one of several Irish pubs in Europe's Capital, and from my room, it sounded like the patrons were having a good time. But I didn't join them.

I was in a much more pensive mood. I've been thinking a lot about Ireland lately. I'm really excited about the course I'm teaching this Summer on contemporary Irish culture (For more background, see here, here, and here.) For the last twenty years, we've witnessed amazing changes on the Irish island, including the Celtic Tiger economy, the Good Friday Agreement, and the transformation from being a continuing source of ambitious young immigrants to being a preferred immigrant destination. What an incredible time to study Irish culture and identity.

But lately I've been worried. After more than a decade of rapid growth, the Irish are now struggling with a deep recession. Its people and institutions are really hurting. Added to that, renegade Nationalists just assassinated members of the security forces in Northern Ireland, in attempt to reignite the Troubles.

These events made me wonder -- is this the right time to launch a course on Irish culture? Will the economic difficulties obscure the character of Irish culture from our students? Will it even be safe for our students to live in Derry this June? After an incredible generation of good fortune, will Ireland ever recover from very tough days?

These are the questions that ran through my head on a Brussels St. Patrick's Day. However, later that night I read some encouraging remarks issued at the US State Department by Secretary Hillary Clinton, Peter Robinson and Martin Mcguinness. This really cheered me up.

I recommend you read the whole text, but here's an excerpt of their statements, beginning with Secretary Clinton:

The two men standing on either side of me led Northern Ireland through the last days in a commendable manner. Along with the governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom, they have confronted these acts of violence with boldness and statesmanship. And they have responded to actions intended to sow fear and division with unity and courage.
So we are here after ten years of peace, and we’re committed to looking forward to a future where we, the United States, working with them, can create a better life so that every child growing up in Northern Ireland has a chance to live up to his or her God-given potential.
The State Department and the Obama Administration will be actively engaged in assisting the leadership of Northern Ireland. And this is not a subject of passing interest, but of surpassing interest. During my time as First Lady, during my time as senator from New York, I have been privileged to see the people of Northern Ireland move in a direction that has given so much hope to so many, including those far beyond their own boundaries.
So I want to thank the first minister and the deputy first minister, and now let me turn to the first minister for any comments he wishes to make.
FIRST MINISTER ROBINSON: Thank you very much. At the very outset, I want to express my appreciation and the appreciation of all of the people of Northern Ireland to Secretary Clinton. Hillary has been a good friend of Northern Ireland, a great friend of the process in which we have been involved. We were delighted to hear in our meeting which has just concluded that that is going to be an ongoing interest. We’re looking for excuses to bring her to Northern Ireland, and we’re delighted to hear that the Obama Administration is looking to bring an envoy to continue to partner with us, and indeed to have a particular emphasis with someone looking after the issue of the economy.
The deputy first minister and I have had a difficult period of time. I think that anybody who has followed recent events will know that there was a single purpose on the part of those who carried out those dreadful acts. They intended to divide us. They intended to drag Northern Ireland back into conflict. Their hopes were that the work of the politicians in the assembly and in the executive would begin to fray and that the institutions would crumble and fall.
They have not succeeded, and they will not succeed. There is a massive determination, not just on the part of the deputy first minister and myself, but I was delighted to see it from every single political party. There was no party political bickering on the issue. Every politician stepped up to the line and made it clear their denunciation of the incidents and also their determination that they were not going back.
It is that determination not simply not to go back or to stand still, but to drive us forward, to complete the tasks that we have set our hand to, and to bring Northern Ireland to that place where it has a stable political and economic future, where prosperity is a daily diet of our people. It is that hope that drives us forward, and it is that hope that I believe we have the full support of the people of Northern Ireland in realizing.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you so much.
DEPUTY FIRST MINISTER MCGUINNESS: Well, if I could say that it’s an incredible good fortune for all of us on the island of Ireland and the north that Hillary Clinton has been appointed the new Secretary of State. She has for many, many years, alongside her husband, been a true friend of all of us, a true friend of the peace process, contributing tremendously to the transformation that has taken place over the course of the last number of years. And what has been really encouraging about this visit and the meeting that we’ve just come from is that it’s quite clear that she is surrounded by people who have a tremendous insight into our situation, going back many, many years. I find that tremendously encouraging, and we’re excited about our meeting with President Obama this morning and the things we heard from him and his reiteration of his commitment to help us within the process, continuing, I must say, a long line of important contributions from the United States of America.
And what we’ve heard just now in the course of our meeting with Secretary Clinton further encourages us that we will see the appointment of an envoy who will make their own particular contribution, also following in a long line of envoys who have been tremendously supportive for all of us.
And we talked about the economy because we believe that economic development is of critical importance, and our program for government identified the development of the economy as a key priority for all of us. And there has been a long tradition of American companies investing on the island of Ireland and in the north of Ireland, and our visit here and the West Coast, and we’ve been to Los Angeles, Peter’s been to Chicago, I’ve been to New York, and we’re now in Washington. Everywhere we went, it was quite clear that people were very tuned in to what had happened in our country and indeed at the time of those incidents were very shocked that it did happen.
But that shock quickly gave way to a bigger story, and the bigger story was the unity which Peter has just spoken about, not just between himself and myself, but between all of the parties recognizing that this represented a real challenge to our process by people who are dedicated to destroy the peace process, dedicated to the demolition of the political institutions, and absolutely dedicated to plunging our community. And we don’t speak about two communities. We represent – although we represent different parties, we represent one community in the north of Ireland, and we are not going to allow our community to be plunged into mayhem and destruction by people who have no support, no mandate whatsoever, and no right whatsoever to attack the peace that the people of Ireland as a whole and in the north voted for in the referendum in the aftermath of the Good Friday upheaval.
So I’m actually moving forward on all of this with tremendous confidence about the future, confidence in that we are united, that we are supported by the Irish Government and the British Government, and by a very strong Administration here in the United States of America led by President Obama and Hillary Clinton. So we will leave Washington incredibly buoyed up by the encouragement and support that we’ve received here, and I want to express my deepest thanks and appreciation to you, Hillary, and to President Obama and all those in all of the political parties on Capitol Hill who have stood by us through thick and thin.

To prepare for our course, I've been reading R. F. Foster's excellent recent book, Luck and the Irish. (BTW - if you want to learn about Ireland, he's written many other books worth your time). Anyway, in the very first sentence of the book's introduction, Foster quotes Bertie Ahern (Taoiseach - or Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland). Ahern was speaking in 1998 at a critical moment in the Northern Ireland peace process. Not all of his constituents were entirely satisfied with the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. To them he said:

The cynics may be able to point to the past. But we live in the future.

In the end, I think my Brussels reflection on St. Patrick's Day reminded me - perhaps the best days for the People of Ireland are yet to come.