Boston's Irish Americans view accord with cautious optimism
By Alexis Chiu, Associated Press, 05/23/98
 OSTON - An ocean away from the historic referendum creating a new government in Northern Ireland, many Irish Americans on Saturday cast their own unofficial votes for peace.
''It's going to change everything,'' said Bernadette Murphy, editor of the Irish Emigrant, a weekly Boston newspaper. ''We feel like this is a fantastic opportunity for peace finally to come to Northern Ireland.''
News of Friday's overwhelming ''yes'' vote for the April 10 peace accord had spread through the city's largely Irish-American population before all the ballots were counted.
Like many interviewed on Saturday, Murphy - an American whose parents are from the Republic of Ireland - approached news of the Belfast agreement with a mixture of joyful surprise and cautious optimism.
''We're not out of the woods yet, but we're optimistic about the future for the first time in decades,'' Murphy said. ''For a long time, people have been feeling very unsettled and hopeless about the situation.''
In Shenanigan's pub in the city's largely Irish-Catholic South Boston neighborhood, people who grew up part of Northern Ireland's Catholic minority rubbed elbows with Irish Americans who only had vacationed on the island. Most agreed the peace accord is a step in the right direction.
''It's time for peace,'' said Dennis Mawn, 29, of Norwood. ''It's a good thing.''
But Mawn, whose father is from a town on the border between Northern and the Republic of Ireland, said he didn't think the South should have voted away its constitutional claims to the North.
''The island has a written constitution, and it's not to be taken lightly,'' said Mawn, a U.S. Army police officer. ''We don't take the constitution so lightly in this country.''
Across the smoky barroom, Barry Hughes of Northern Ireland recalled growing up Catholic in a largely Protestant neighborhood in Armagh, where he still lives.
Hughes, 43, voted ''yes'' for the accord by proxy because he was traveling in America. Though he has felt the sting of discrimination - his parents recently had to move after 50 years in the neighborhood after someone lobbed a firebomb at their home - he describes himself as a moderate who wants peace more than revenge.
''All we want is to be able to go down to the bar and have a drink without someone coming in and shooting,'' he said. ''All we want is peace.''
Hughes said he hopes the agreement will benefit his country as much economically as socially by stimulating interest from foreign investors who have stayed away from a region that for decades has been defined by conflict.
''People don't want to invest in a building that's going to be blown up,'' he said.
Boston's Irish population in the last census, taken in 1990, totaled 106,586 out of a total population of 574,283. In the city's South Boston neighborhood the Irish numbered 14,627 out of 29,495.
The area's politicians, many of whom actively worked on the peace process, also registered their satisfaction on Saturday.
''Ireland has proven that the ballot is more powerful than the bomb in achieving peace and justice,'' said Raymond Flynn, former mayor of Boston and current congressional candidate.
Though he warned there will be difficulties ahead, U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass, said, ''The outcome is a resounding victory that brings the reality of peace significantly closer for all the people of Ireland, North and South.''
U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Mass., in 1994 became the first member of Congress to visit Northern Ireland after the historic Irish Republican Army cease fire. He credited President Clinton with starting the peace process by making Northern Ireland an international matter.
''You cannot overstate the significance of this day,'' Neal said. ''All the people on the island of Ireland had the opportunity yesterday to vote for a common destiny ... (and) it is certain they have voted for a common future.''
Another who emphasized the importance of U.S. cooperation in reaching the agreement was Larry Downes, president of the U.S. group Friends of Sinn Fein.
''The U.S. dimension to this was very important'' in bringing both sides to the table, he told reporters at O'Neill's, an Irish pub in New York City. ''Certainly this isn't the end game. It's only a step.''
Downes said money contributions would be vital as the IRA-Edward Kennedy, D-Mass, said, ''The outcome is a resounding victory that brings the reality of peace significantly closer for all the people of Ireland, North and South.''
U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Mass., in 1994 became the first member of Congress to visit Northern Ireland after the historic Irish Republican Army cease fire. He credited President Clinton with starting the peace process by making Northern Ireland an international matter.
''You cannot overstate the significance of this day,'' Neal said. ''All the people on the island of Ireland had the opportunity yesterday to vote for a common destiny ... (and) it is certain they have voted for a common future.''
Another who emphasized the importance of U.S. cooperation in reaching the agreement was Larry Downes, president of the U.S. group Friends of Sinn Fein.
''The U.S. dimension to this was very important'' in bringing both sides to the table, he told reporters at O'Neill's, an Irish pub in New York City. ''Certainly this isn't the end game. It's only a step.''
Downes said money contributions would be vital as the IRA-allied Sinn Fein party prepares campaigns for the June 25 election to the newly created assembly.
At The Littlest Bar in downtown Boston, bartender Donal Coomey recalled how, as a child in Cork, bad news about the North always seemed to fill the newspapers and evening newscasts.
''Nobody thought anything like this would happen,'' said Coomey, 28, who has lived in America for 12 years. ''It might take another one or two generations to achieve real peace, but as long as they don't go backwards, they've done good.''
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