A man of courage for Ireland

TED Kennedy wasn’t Jack and he wasn’t Bobby but, despite growing tarnished and growing old, he achieved more than both of them put together, particularly when it came to Ireland.

When JFK visited Ireland in 1963, a few short months before his assassination, he arrived on a tide of joy and emotion. It was a sort of homecoming, and it was clear the president’s heart had always been in Ireland. But he was not about to do anything tangible for the land of his forefathers. The taoiseach at the time, Sean Lemass, was told in no uncertain terms that neither the issue of Irish unity nor the border were to be raised with the president during his visit.

Two decades later, Ronald Reagan, another Irish-American president, took the same line when he arrived in Ballyporeen and when he later addressed the joint houses of the Oireachtas in Dublin. He did not want to do or say anything that would upset his precious relationship with then British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.