Cowen to push 2-year visa deal as US visit begins

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has announced a series of measures to revitalise the Irish-American relationship just as Ireland returns to headlines in the US for all the wrong reasons.

Mr Cowen will seek to progress plans for a renewable two-year working visa to ease the process for Irish citizens looking to work in the US and vice versa.

He pledged to keep working for a solution on the illegal Irish in the US, but any such deal remains fraught with difficulties and is likely to be some time off yet.

The funeral of PSNI Constable Stephen Carroll — murderedby dissident Republicans — made the front page of the New York Times over the weekend and CNN covered the riots over arrests in relation to the killings.

Against this backdrop, Mr Cowen and Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin began their St Patrick’s Day visit to the US yesterday. Economic issues were expected to dominate the agenda, but the situation in the North will now feature heavily as well.

In New York last night, Mr Cowen accentuated the positive, announcing a series of steps to “re-energise the critical relationship” between Ireland and the US. The Government is to open a new consulate in Atlanta to serve Georgia and the southern states. A new office will also be opened in Houston, Texas.

Ireland has no full-time diplomatic presence in the southern states, one of the fastest growing regions of the US.

“This will change with this new initiative,” Mr Cowen told guests at the American Irish Historical Society.

In addition, the Irish Embassy in Washington will be “reinforced” to promote economic relations, while the Government will target individual states to capitalise on business opportunities.

For Americans with Irish roots but who cannot claim citizenship, a new “certificate of Irish ancestry” will be introduced in a bid to further strengthen links. The Taoiseach also pledged to improve online access to Irish genealogical records.

The Famine will also be commemorated in the US each year. Currently, an Irish and overseas location are chosen each year to hold parallel events on National Famine Memorial Day. This will now be augmented with the annual commemoration in the US.

Mr Martin will chair a new Cabinet sub-committee to oversee the implementation of the measures. He has also been asked to chair an Irish Leadership Council to bring together “the leadership of all of the major Irish organisations and networks in the US and harness their efforts to common purpose”, Mr Cowen said.

His announcement followed a major review of Ireland-US relations, carried out by the Washington embassy at the Taoiseach’s request. According to the Government, it is the first significant review of diplomatic relations with the US since the 1930s.

He remains in New York this morning for a series of engagements to promote Irish firms, before flying onto Washington ahead of his meeting with US President Barack Obama in the White House tomorrow.

Mr Martin, meanwhile, will meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington today, with the North expected to feature prominently in their discussions.