Speech by An Taoiseach, Mr Brian Cowen TD, At the launch of An Irish Voice - Mr Niall O'Dowd's Autobiography, The Merrion Hotel, Dublin, Tuesday, 2nd March 2010.

I am delighted to be with you all this evening to launch An Irish Voice, the autobiography of Niall O'Dowd. At the outset, I want to thank Niall for the invitation to be with you and I want to extend my good wishes to Niall and his family who are joining him this evening. I also want to thank the publishers the O'Brien Press. As a creative industry, Irish publishing has huge potential for growth in jobs and profitability, particularly via export of books and rights.

In the first instance, I want to congratulate Niall on a hugely engaging life-story which is beautifully written. This is hardly surprising given that Niall is no newcomer to the publishing world. I can recommend to anyone his previous book, Fire in the Morning, which pays tribute to the many Irish people who lost their lives in the World Trade Centre on September 11th. Niall is also the founder of Irish-American magazine, the Irish Voice newspaper and Irish Central.com. He is, of course, a journalist whose contribution goes far beyond being a very intelligent and incisive reporter of events.

Niall's role in the peace process is well documented in this book which highlights the significant role played by the Irish in America in the entire process. I am going to come back to that in a few minutes but before I do so, I want to touch on Niall's remarkable journey which led him from his native Drogheda to being a confidant of some of the biggest names in US politics.

Niall's is a powerful story and it may well yet prove to be a classic of the emigrant genre. His journey in America begins in Chicago. Like many young Irish emigrants of his generation, the GAA was a central focal point in his early days in the United States. The GAA has been a major force for good in the development of Irish society. In this book, Niall reminds us that for our emigrant community, the GAA often provided a vehicle and support network that stretched far beyond the playing pitch.

Niall relates how his initial passage to America was put up by members of a GAA club in Chicago keen to get a new recruit for their team. He also explains how the know-how and experience of Irish team-mates who preceded him in America was a brilliant resource for a new emigrant to draw upon in the all the important search for work or "a start," as it was colloquially known in the Irish emigrant community.

There is no doubt though that playing our native games 6,000 miles from home does present some difficulties. Niall touches on these with characteristic good humour.
He explains how playing Gaelic Football in Golden Gate Park was a particularly hazardous pastime because San Francisco's famous fog from the Pacific, often reduced visibility to ten yards and made collisions frequent. There is also a classic sporting anecdote in this book which concerns a hurling match in Los Angeles. Niall was the goalkeeper and his team were winning so comfortably that supporters of the opposing team decided to take matters into their own hands. Niall records :

"As I watched the game being played out, mostly at the other end, I suddenly heard a sawing sound and turned around to see the supporters hacking down the goalposts.... This was clearly their way of expressing disapproval with the game's inevitable outcome.... I will always remember the face of the forward on their team who bore down on [my] goal, looked up to shoot, then suddenly realised there were no longer any goalposts to shoot at, except for two small wooden stumps. The referee wisely abandoned proceedings right after that!"

Humorous episodes apart, it is important to say that Niall's book deals honestly and refreshingly with some very serious problems that are prevalent within the Irish emigrant community and I suspect in almost all emigrant communities. Niall writes movingly of how the often inter-related scourges of loneliness, drink and depression have negatively impacted on the lives of many Irish people in America.

He also talks about the unsung heroes of the Irish-American community, inspirational people like the late John Maher in San Francisco and Dr Kevin Cahill in New York, who have generously and voluntarily devoted so much time to helping their fellow Irish people who fall on difficult times.

Niall's book makes clear that there is a great sense of social solidarity among the Irish in America which manifests itself in so many ways. He gives a very personal and humane account of the trauma of dealing thousands of miles from family with the death of his father, who may I say comes across as a wonderful man. Niall's experiences, as well as the strong bond of kinship among the Irish in America, were no doubt central to him becoming strongly involved in the campaign to help the Undocumented Irish in America.

My Government is very much aware of the difficulties which Irish emigrants have faced in the past and that some still face in the United States. Though the difficulties experienced have evolved over time, our commitment to supporting our Irish citizens abroad remains strong. I will be taking the opportunity St. Patrick's Day presents to encourage the Obama administration in Washington to address the issue of comprehensive immigration reform. As a government, we attach particular priority to this issue of providing a resolution of the problems endured by the Undocumented Irish.

Niall's memoir is an instructive story of how Irish people have worked hard to achieve great success in the United States. In his early days, Niall helped run a decorating company called Sundance Painting. Niall managed to combine his work as a painter-decorator with the hugely demanding task of starting his own newspaper while at the same time having a very hectic social life.

Niall's talents and hard-work have seen him achieve great success as a journalist and his publications have strengthened the bonds of community within Irish-American and with the Irish at home.

His life work has been to keep our emigrant community informed and his papers have also provided an influential voice on the issues that concern people of Irish heritage living throughout the United States.

The leadership role that Niall O'Dowd has played in the Irish-American community has saw him rub shoulders as an adviser on Irish issues with some of the United States' most influential people, including Bill and Hillary Clinton as well as the late Senator Ted Kennedy. He used those contacts and so many more with great political skill and dexterity to help put the cause of peace in Ireland at the top of the agenda of American politics.

The efforts of Irish-Americans in solving the problems of Ireland can be traced back as far as the time of the New Departure in the late 19th Century. This was rooted in the shared objectives of Parnell, the leader of constitutional nationalism, Davitt, the leader of the Land League, and John Devoy, the leader of the Fenian movement in the United States.

In the late 20th Century, the shared objective was peace and Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, the nationalist parties in Northern Ireland and Irish-America all put their shoulder to the wheel. Niall O'Dowd's efforts were helpful to bringing the Clinton administration on board. Niall had struck up a strong relationship with the Clinton campaign during the 1992 Presidential Election and these contacts became instrumental to the success of the then fledgling peace process.

The IRA ceasefire in August 1994, which was closely followed by a Loyalist cessation, changed the entire dynamic of our island and Niall O'Dowd played a significant role in bringing that about.
This book provides a gripping account of the crucial period in the lead up to the IRA ceasefire where Niall worked closely with other Irish-American leaders and the Clinton administration to ensure a ceasefire that would ultimately usher in a new era of peace, tolerance and reconciliation on this island.

There is one paragraph in this book which says it all to me. It concerns a meeting between Niall and President Clinton in that great Irish institution in Manhattan, Fitzpatrick's hotel. It was October 2000 and Bill Clinton was in the final months of his second-term. Niall records :

"I knew this was the last time I would see him as President and I thanked him for all he had done to bring peace to my country, the first president who ever cared enough about it. As we walked to the door he suddenly put his arm on my shoulders, looked me in the eye and said. 'We did some great work together, didn't we?"

There is no arguing with that distinguished assessment.

ENDS.