Posted on 09/23/2003 5:53:02 AM PDT by NYer
Marking the first visit to Albany by an Irish head of state, Prime Minister Bertie Ahern on Monday vowed to strengthen economic ties and educational exchanges with upstate New York.
Ahern flew directly from Dublin to Albany, his first stop on a five-day U.S. visit at the behest of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
"She instructed me I have to be here," Ahern said, drawing laughter from a crowd of about 300 people, many of them Irish-Americans, at an invitation-only event at the College of Saint Rose's Lally School of Education.
"It's an honor to be in your patch," said Ahern, who was clearly upstaged by Clinton's celebrity. The junior senator from New York drew the loudest cheers from the audience and shook the most hands afterward, also signing several copies of her best-selling memoir.
The bulk of a brief news conference outside the Lally building shortly after noon was spent by Clinton fielding several variations from Irish and American reporters on whether she plans to run for president in 2004. She has denied that she will enter the race.
"I have made my decision and I see no reason to change it," Clinton said. She downplayed recent media reports that her husband was encouraging her to enter the race. "He has said it's my decision, and that's where it rests."
At the official ceremony inside, it looked as if St. Patrick's Day had arrived about six months early. Clinton noted that Ahern was flanked by an all-Irish supporting cast of Jennings, Breslin, McEneny, McNulty and Sullivan -- the mayor, county executive, assemblyman, congressman and college president. The senator added that for Monday, at least, "Albany should be considered the Irish-American capital."
She presented Ahern with the first Oldcastle Award on Irish-American Affairs. Clinton praised the taoiseach (pronounce TEE-shock), a Celtic word for prime minister and his official title, for his central role in the 1998 Good Friday peace accord that brought a stop to sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.
"He has moved the peace process forward through some difficult, challenging times," Clinton said. She recalled visits with Ahern in the Republic of Ireland as first lady with President Bill Clinton to press for peace. "Five years later, there is still a lot of work to be done. But he is a leader who keeps his eye on the prize."
"There is some distance to travel on the road to peace," Ahern said. "We remain committed to the journey."
Ahern mentioned educational exchanges the College of Saint Rose has developed with College Cork Dublin's City University and said he would foster more links. He also said he plans to continue to promote business and trade opportunities between upstate and Ireland.
Ahern said Hillary Clinton's trade mission to Ireland in 2002, followed by the first visit to this country by the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, led to the creation of an upstate chapter of the Irish-U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The United States remains Ireland's top trade and investment partner, Ahern said, with 500 American companies doing business there and employing 90,000 Irish people.
On this side of the Atlantic, 65,000 Americans are employed by Irish companies. Ahern noted that Oldcastle Inc. is an Irish firm which endowed a lecture series at Saint Rose and has local holdings, including Callanan Industries.
"This is only the start," he said.
Meanwhile, the specter of another setback in the fragile peace process in Northern Ireland looms.
Ahern discussed with Clinton how crucial the next three weeks are to getting the 1998 peace accord back on track. Ahern said Protestant Loyalists, Catholic Unionists and the other factions must agree soon to resume elections before Christmas. The other two sticking points are agreeing to end all paramilitary activity and to commit to restart power-sharing government institutions.
Ahern said he would like to see those agreements before Ireland assumes the rotating presidency of the European Union on Jan. 1, 2004. The EU is scheduled to expand from 15 to 25 countries representing 500 million people during Ireland's presidency.
Ahern met with Gov. George Pataki on Monday afternoon before heading to New York City.
Monday's visit played well with the Irish-American audience.
"The Irish are lucky to have a statesman of Bertie Ahern's caliber," said Tony McCann, a Shenendehowa High School teacher who comes from County Cavan. "He's more than a day-to-day politician. He's a visionary who has tremendous tenacity."
"It was a phenomenal thing to have an Irish head of state in Albany," said Michael Byron, of County Sligo, who owns Washington Tavern and the Ginger Man in Albany. "He fit right in with all the Irish-American politicians up there."
Meeting Ahern was a first for two Belfast exchange students Tony McGaharan Sam Morrow, who are attending Doane Stuart School in Albany.
"It gives me hope for the future that so many people here are concerned about the peace process," Morrow said.
"It's funny we had to come across the Atlantic to meet him," McGaharan said.
And, undoubtedly, the last! An "invented" award, used as a prop for a photo op.
Lol! ;-> Here is the media coverage of the Irish media ... the ones that accompany the PM when he travels. This story also posted in today's edition of the Times Union.
They're the dozen members of the Irish press corps covering Prime Minister Bertie Ahern on his U.S. visit this week.
They listened to Harry McGee of The Irish Examiner deconstruct Albany's gritty past, as gleaned from the novels of William Kennedy. "I'm a huge Kennedy fan. I hope I've got time to get downtown and see if some of those old places still exist," he said.
The Irish reporters -- men and women from the print and broadcast media -- were struck by the size of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's security detail -- a phalanx of Secret Service, State Police and Albany officers -- compared to Ahern's public appearances in Dublin.
"Bertie has none of this security," McGee said. "He goes down to the local pub on weekends. He's a man of the people."
But Irish officials are reviewing security procedures for political leaders following the fatal stabbing this month of Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh in a Stockholm store, McGee said.
Ahern's working-class roots and common man's touch have been his greatest political assets, the reporters said. He was re-elected in 2002 to a second five-year term. "With the economy sputtering, he's struggling now, but he's still popular," McGee said.
John Downing of the Irish Daily Star described Ahern's style as "very blokey" and said the 52-year-old prime minister loves nothing better than "having a pint with his mates at the pub."
As of Jan. 1, 2004, they won't be able to enjoy a smoke with their Guinness. That's when a new smoking ban, modeled on New York's smoke-free legislation, takes place. It's a controversial law supported by Ahern as a way of improving public health, especially for pub workers.
Critics consider it a nail in the coffin of Ireland's famous pub culture.
"Bertie got the support of bar owners and that got it through," McGee said.
Now he's floating a so-called fat tax, Downing said: "He's made noise about fighting obesity by taxing junk food. He put it out in August. That's our silly season when the politicians send a lot of kites flying to see what happens."
Things have also changed for the boyos on the bus. "The days of alcohol and partying by the press have passed," McGee said. "It's just a lot of soda water now."
-- Paul Grondahl
He isn't as hated as Hillary Rodham Clinton is!
Actually, Albany is considered mid-state (Hudson Valley) and is in a major growth period, following the arrival of SemaTechNorth. The Irish PM was here at the invitation of the governor; HC had to stick her nose in by inventing a stupid award.
The Northern Tier section of NY, areas like Buffalo and Syracuse are the ones suffering the most. Hitlary campaigned in the BIG cities, including Buffalo, to get herself elected. She really only needs to take NYC.
No one is "buying" her "I'm not running for prez" line .. no one.
She will not enter the race until she is drafted at the DNC convention. As for Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, he is looking for deep pockets from the democratic “patch”., charming little leprechaun that he is.
The Irish Catholics, to their shame have been 'Kennedyed' for so long, they will fail to see the danger in courting Mrs. Clinton. Is up-state NY just another Boston burg? Or can they still elect honest people.
I'm really glad to finally see a N.Y. citizen state that fact.We're not buying it in L.A. either!
Most NYers were stunned when she won the election. Speaking with neighbors, no one confessed to voting for her. After the election, a "results by county" map appeared on NewsMax(?). The entire map was blue (Lazio) except for 3 large red dots (Hillary) - Buffalo, NYC and Albany. That's it ... but she won the large cities that are filled with liberals. If I find the map, I will post it here.
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