DUP ministers 'turning the tide' for Northern Ireland as Irish American lobby 'loses influence' - Lyons
Unionists are turning the tide on how Northern Ireland is viewed in the United States, where there is now a better understanding that all roads don’t lead to a united Ireland, Gordon Lyons has said.
The DUP minister has said that as the influence of the Irish lobby in America “has lost its influence” there is an opportunity to change attitudes to Ireland among a new generation of law makers in Washington.
The absence of Sinn Fein and Alliance ministers from the events is an advantage for promoting the province, he argues, as they wouldn’t want Northern Ireland was “differentiated in any way” during the events.
The communities minister is currently on a series of engagements across the Atlantic as part of the annual St Patrick’s Day festivities – where he says his party’s ministers are putting the province on the map.
Mr Lyons says his department is using the 250th anniversary of American Independence to point to early Ulster settlers’ role in the founding of the nation.
Tonight, Mr Lyons will host an event alongside the American 250 Commission in the US Senate, which he says is an opportunity “to give some standout for Northern Ireland”.
On Monday, he presented Georgia Southern University in Savannah with a reproduction of an edition of a News Letter article from 1772, highlighting the opportunity for Ulster people to sail to Charlestown, South Carolina to start a new life.
Speaking to the News Letter between engagements on St Patrick’s Day, the minister said the trip “is our opportunity to give some standout for Northern Ireland”.
“What we've been trying to do is to highlight Northern Ireland – and using the 250th anniversary to point to those early Ulster settlers that actually built the country and made the difference. So that's where our focus is going to be in telling a little bit about that story” he said.
“This is about trying to reach a new audience to tell them about Northern Ireland. I’m very much of the view and that the Irish American lobby in America, which was once politically very strong, has lost its influence. So I think now is the time for us to present to a new generation in Congress and in the Senate, the stories of people from Northern Ireland, and put us in the map.
“I think we've been known for the Troubles. We've been known for the Belfast Agreement. I want the focus to be on the resilience, determination, ingenuity of the people from here, and that same spirit that drove people across the Atlantic – that is still in our people today”, the communities minister said. Asked if it is easier to tell the specific story of Northern Ireland, if Irish American lobby had diminished – and whether unionists could exploit that, he said yes. “Absolutely, and we certainly have been upping the work that we're doing in the United States in my own department. Emma Little-Pengelly has been very much the forefront of that in the last few years. As a party, we've been doing substantial work to try and open doors that haven't always been open there in in the past.
“The Irish American lobby, for a long time, was very strong and very green, very nationalist – and that's what we're trying to change”, the minister said. He said the DUP want to make sure that both Republicans and Democrats “know that unionism is here, it's very strong, and that the majority of people in Northern Ireland want to stay within the United Kingdom.
“That's not always the image that has been presented to America, and I think you've seen that in comments from some of those Irish American politicians in the past. Asked if the Sinn Fein boycott of St Patrick’s Day events has allowed his party to put a greater emphasis on Northern Ireland – given that the Executive is being represented solely by unionists – he said “of course”.
The DUP man said: “We have a first minister who struggles even to say the words Northern Ireland, struggles to say the name of the country. And no doubt, if there had been Alliance SDLP and Sinn Fein politicians here, they wouldn't be trying to get standout for Northern Ireland.
“They wouldn't want to ensure that we were differentiated in any way. And I'm unashamed about wanting to promote Northern Ireland, to put Northern Ireland first.
“And I think that's why it's important to come out here, important to say what we are saying and making that case for Northern Ireland. And I'm quite happy and proud that we're here and that we're doing that and that we're getting our message across”.