Call to Action: Have Your Elected Representatives Commit to Preserving the Good Friday Agreement Against the Risks of Brexit.

Brothers:

We are less than 90 days out from a climatic point in the history of the world which will remake the map of Europe and have dramatic consequences for our brothers and sister in Ireland: Brexit. The current Brexit deadline is October 31^st, and newly elected Prime Minister Johnson has threatened that unless the European Union accedes to Britain’s demands they will leave without a deal, “a hard Brexit.” The economic disruption of a “hard Brexit” will touch every corner of the world, including the United States, and nowhere will the impact be more keenly felt than Ireland where Britain has its only land border with the E.U..

For over twenty years, thanks to the United States brokered Good Friday Agreement, the Irish border has existed only on maps. Thirty-five thousand people seamlessly cross the border daily to work, school, or seek medical care. Military checkpoints and razor wire have given way to bridges of understanding which are helping the border fade into history like the centuries of bloody conflict that once defined it. It is for this reason that the people of Northern Ireland of all communities rejected Brexit by 56%.

An even greater risk to the Irish peace process is that senior British officials are now stating that to implement Brexit it shall be necessary for Britain to resume exclusive and direct rule in Northern Ireland. A repartitioning of Ireland, the ignoring of a clear mandate to reject Brexit, a return to direct rule from Westminster, and a devastated economy will create a breeding ground for violence.

Sadly, recent statements by senior U.S. officials of “unwavering commitment” “however Brexit shakes out” shows that many American government officials are unaware of the consequences of Brexit to the Irish people and a proud U.S. Good Friday Agreement legacy.

As both Hibernians and Americans, we cannot let this happen. As Americans we believe people and governments should honoring their commitments, as Hibernians we can not let the Irish people become acceptable collateral damage to Brexit. The Irish people have as equal a birthright to self-determination, peace, and security as do the British; America has a historical “special relationship” of friendship with Ireland far older than that with Britain.  

It is for this reason Brothers, we ask your help

• Currently, Senate and Congressional Representative are back in their districts while the Capital is in recess.
• We ask every state board to meet with their two Senators and every Hibernians to meet with their Congressional Representative to personally present a letter stating your concern for the damage which Brexit is doing to the peace process, and to ask the Senator/Representative to send a letter to Secretary of State Pompeo and British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab stating their opposition to any form of Brexit which would lead to a physical border in Ireland or result in a return to direct rule.
  • We have created a tool for you to look up your representatives contact info on the AOH website, https://aoh.com/political-education/elected-representative-lookup/. Click the link to their webpage to find the local office near you.
  • We have created a template letter for you to use, though you are certainly free to write your own. The template may be found here.  Note that areas which need personalization are called out in red and need replacement based on your local official
  • The “personal touch” makes the most significant impact. With heightened security, standard mail takes weeks to be delivered; email is to easy to ignore.
• We ask that all responses from your representative be reported back so that the National may give proper recognition to those who heard and acted on this urgent call.

Brothers, I frequently cite the quote “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”; there is no better test of the wisdom of this observation than the current Brexit situation and I pray you will not let evil triumph at the price of a few moments of your time.