ANCIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS • BREHON LAW SOCIETY • IRISH AMERICAN UNITY CONFERENCE
March 21, 2013
Honorable Robert Menendez
Member, U. S. Senator for New Jersey
Washington, D. C. 20510
Dear Senator Menendez:
We have sent a number of letters to you in the past 9 months regarding our concerns for Britain’s misuse of the U.S.-U.K. Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) for a political fishing expedition in the Irish archives of Boston College. We have also raised the issue of the British government undermining the ‘justice’ provisions of the Good Friday Agreement. Your letter to Secretary of State Clinton last year was most welcome in regard to these matters but there still has been no resolution or exposure of these issues. We seek your assistance in two ways. First, as we indicated in our previous letter, we trust you will send to Secretary of State John Kerry a letter similar to the one you sent to Secretary Clinton. We are not taking for granted his support in the past on this issue. While the merits of the issue are as strong as ever, he now has a President to report to who may have differing priorities.
Secondly, we have noted in previous correspondence and commentary both mailed and faxed to your offices, there are four ‘justice’ issues relating to the Agreement on which a congressional hearing might shed some light. They are:
• England’s failure to provide complete records to the Irish government on the British Army role in the Dublin-Monaghan bombings;
• Britain’s refusal to provide a public hearing on the murder of attorney Patrick Finucane;
• the British corruption of the HET process which was to review the killing of over 800 Catholics; and
• the continued internment of Marian Price, Martin Corey and others, the abuse of their human rights and the corruption of law to keep them imprisoned.
Not content with shredding the above peace pact provisions, England has now enlisted the U. S. government to undermine the accord; a unique success story for American foreign policy. The mischievous Boston College subpoenas initiative is prompted by the same security forces that killed Patrick Finucane and Rosemary Nelson. As a result, the tireless efforts of two Presidents’ to insure that U. S. resolve and resources fortified that commitment are being mocked.
We believe these topics should be the focus of a hearing by the Foreign Relations Committee and would welcome the opportunity to amplify the justification for doing so. We would hope that such a hearing would invite testimony from the United Kingdom and the Irish Republic as well as invite organizations like ours to attend and/or give testimony. A suitable time frame to allow for travel would also be appropriate.
We would like to sit down to further discuss not only the merits of such an investigation but the logistics of insuring that all voices are heard and that the resulting testimony and documentation is provided in full in the Congressional Record.
Thank you for your past efforts to expose some of the injustices of the conflict in Ireland. We look forward to working with you to conduct the most inclusive and productive inquiry into the 1998 Belfast Agreement and its American support.
Sincerely,
Mr. Brendan Moore
National President
Ancient Order of Hibernians
Mr. Robert Dunne, Esq.
President
Brehon Law Society
Mr. Thomas J. Burke Jr. Esq.
National President
Irish American Unity Conference
Boston College Subpoena News 