INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR IRELAND:THE US House of Representatives withdrew funding for the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) in a "continuing resolution" approved on Tuesday night. The measure, contained within a package to fund the US government for the next three weeks, will doubtless be passed by the Senate.
Irish officials visiting Washington for St Patrick’s Day described as “unfortunate” the timing – just before Speaker John Boehner is to host the Taoiseach and the Northern Ireland leaders for lunch on Capitol Hill today.
Sources in the Obama administration and Congress were furious, calling the measure “a stick in the eye” on the eve of St Patrick’s Day. In their frenzy to cut federal spending, Republicans “singled out the IFI for destruction. They are wiping it out,” said one source.
While Irish officials hold out some hope of reviving the fund, a congressional source said that in the present environment, “once you close something, it’s tough to re-open it”.
The IFI was established in the wake of the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement to promote reconciliation. It has stood for the past quarter of a century as a symbol of American support for the peace process.
President Obama requested $2.5 million – a fraction of the $15 to $17 million which the fund has received annually from the US – for the IFI in his draft budget for 2012. But that budget will be the object of bitter wrangling. At present, Republicans and Democrats cannot agree on a Bill to fund the government until September.
Three individuals have led the campaign to dismantle the IFI: Jason Chaffetz, a Republican representative from Utah who in January sponsored a resolution entitled “To Prohibit US contribution to the IFI”; Mr Chaffetz’s friend Glenn Beck, the right-wing radio presenter; and Trina Vargo, the head of the US-Ireland Alliance.
Since there is peace in Northern Ireland, they argue, the money is no longer needed. In an editorial posted on the internet this week, Ms Vargo advocated using the funds for the George Mitchell scholarship programme which she administered instead.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Owen Paterson will all lobby contacts on Capitol Hill today, in an effort to reverse the decision.
In separate interviews, Denis Rooney, the Belfast-based chair of the IFI, Mr Kenny and Mr McGuinness made the same argument: that areas which have benefited least from the peace process must continue to receive support, or there is a danger of regression.
