ANALYSIS: Speeches serve up differing messages
THE Northern Ireland bureau St Patrick's Day breakfast bore scant resemblance to Sunday's St Patrick's breakfast in Boston.
In many ways the differences between the two events are a measure of the subtle compromises which both unionists and republicans have made over recent years but which now are almost taken for granted.
On Sunday Gerry Adams satisfied his Irish-American supporters with tales of a (now peaceful) path to what he claimed would be Irish unity, talking up the significance of devolving policing and justice as the transfer of "power from England to Ireland".
But yesterday Martin McGuinness eschewed any overt mention of a united Ireland, focusing on talk of the economy and tourism.
"These are exciting times for us...the security situation and political landscape has been changed," he told the ballroom packed with US, UK and Irish dignitaries.
His talk of creating a "better future for our children" and resolving the economic crisis, was a step removed from Sinn Fein's long-standing description of Northern Ireland as a "failed state".
Likewise, Peter Robinson, who would be considered an unlikely sight at Belfast's St Patrick's Day celebrations – which have long been viewed with suspicion by many unionists – joined in the US St Patrick's Day events with gusto, again emphasising the importance of US investment to Northern Ireland's economy.
To sceptics of the power-sharing government, the distinctly different messages from Adams and McGuinness to different US audiences will feed their fears that republicans are at best ambivalent about making Northern Ireland work.
However, it cannot be ignored that a one-time IRA commander, whose paramilitary outfit attempted to bomb the Province's economy backwards, is now passionately pleading for economic investment from senior Washington figures.
It will become increasingly difficult for Sinn Fein to tell Irish-America that Northern Ireland is a failed state while at the same time asking them to invest substantial sums of their own money in a Province they describe as a "unique investment opportunity".
Alongside that, the fact that someone like Sir Reg Empey is now a recognisable face within the US political establishment after years of these trips, and Peter Robinson regularly visits the US both officially and to stay at his house in Florida, is important for unionism, which for decades has failed to understand the American view of the Province and consequently failed to adequately promote the Union to the world's superpower.
Both unionists and republicans will continue to give different messages to different audiences while outside the Province.
But, wittingly or not, the actions of both political ideologies during their US visits are significant to bolstering Northern Ireland's future within the Union.
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Tuesday 14 February 2012
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