Ireland Today
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Authors
Caniffe, Liam
Issue Date
1984-05-08
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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Liam Canniffe was born in Bandon, Co. Cork, 1944 and educated at Hamilton High School in Co. Cork as well as the University College Dublin. During his career Canniffe worked in the Department of Finance, 1964-1974; Department of Foreign Affairs, Headquarters, 1974; Secretary of Irish Embassy to Holy See, 1974-1977; Department of Foreign Affairs, Dublin, 1977-1980; and as Consul General of Ireland, Chicago, 1980-1984.
ANNECDOTE
This meeting was a success only because OCFR members were having too much fun at the Old Market's French Cafe - not a surprise given the ethnic makeup of Omaha. Caniffe sought to promote Irish exports, a dry subject for his "wet" audience. His chronicle of the "Irish Problem" was lame. Questions from one Omaha notable were "less-than-intelligent," including resurrecting the matter of Ireland's WWII "neutrality." For a while it appeared the Northern Ireland conflict might break out right here, right now because the local gift of gab and tempers lived up to stereotypes. But all parted friends.
SUMMARY
Speaker reviewed the historical links between Ireland and the United States and laid out current economic relations. Then he chronicled "the Irish Problem" of the 20th century. Instead of civil rights, now, tensions are primarily political - questions of representation. Dollars flowing from the United States citizens to the IRA "kill Irish people. Please refrain." Ireland cannot join NATO because that would require that Ireland accept the current border with Northern Ireland and that's not going to happen. The UK hangs onto Northern Ireland the way it hangs onto the Falklands; "empires die hard."
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