Good will main aim for Irish visitor

Press, 16 May 1985, Page 23

Good will main aim for Irish visitor

Dublin NZPA staff correspondent

The President of Ireland, Dr Patrick Hillery, will visit New Zealand this month on a good-will mission which the Irish Government hopes could eventually help resolve the island’s deep-rooted problems. But when Dr Hillery arrives in Auckland on May 20 at the start of a one-week visit, Ireland’s troubles will not be a topic of public discussion.

The softly spoken man who spent 14 years as a Cabinet Minister, who negotiated Ireland’s entry into the Common Market and then served as Vice-Presi-dent of the European Commission, will keep politics firmly under his hat. The Irish Presidency is not an executive position. Although the President has limited powers related to safeguarding the Irish constitution which make him more than a mere figurehead, the position is largely ceremonial and most definitely non-political. “You wouldn’t expect the Queen to talk politics and we don’t expect our President to either,” one Irish official said.

Officially Dr Hillery’s visit to New Zealand and then to Australia is a goodwill gesture. The talk at official lunches, dinners and civic receptions will concentrate on the need to preserve and strengthen the links forged by Irish immigrants in the

ninteenth century — an estimated one in six New Zealanders have Irish ancestry — and the need to update the relationship between the two countries.

“Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Ireland have all been evolving our own national personalities and foreign policies,” Dr Hillery, aged 62, told Australian and New Zealand reporters. “We were all friends in the Empire but at this time it is important to re-relate ourselves in new terms.” Behind the visit is a feeling that countries like New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the United States have a role to play in the vexed question of Northern Ireland. Politicians from both the Fine Gael-Labour coalition Government and the Fianna Fail Opposition are anxious that the problem is resolved but accuse the British Government of dragging its feet and refusing to accept that outside countries have a stake in the debate.

Mr Peter Barry, who as Ireland’s Foreign Minister is at the forefront of the

debate, said, “We have been trying to impress on our friends in the world and our partners in Europe that because of their links with Ireland it is in their interests also to help the Governments (of Britain and Ireland) find a solution.

“Australia and New Zealand can contribute as important members of the Commonwealth by their encouragement of the British Government and indicating that they want to see a serious and lasting effort to solve this problem.” Mr Barry, who will accompany Dr Hillery on the Australian leg of his visit, said Ireland did not want other countries to put pressure on Britain, saying attempts to coerce the British Government could prove counter-productive. Likewise, the deputy leader of Fianna Fail and one-time Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr Brian Lenihan, said, “Pressure is a word I don’t like to use but I would certainly like to see the maximum amount of sensible advice being brought to bear.”