The Ad Hoc Committee to Protect the Good Friday Agreement has weighed in behind a statement issued by the House Foreign Affairs Committee and its chairman, Congressman Gregory Meeks, that is supportive of the Northern Ireland/Irish Sea Protocol.
In a statement, the Ad Hoc Committee said that it fully supported the statement by Chairman Meeks and his colleagues "calling out the British government for its continuing threats to invoke Article 16 which would suspend the Northern Ireland Protocol."
Such a move, said the Ad Hoc Committee, "is unwise and will be unpopular in Northern Ireland as well. Once again the people of Northern Ireland will be the economic losers as a result of a British political miscalculation."
Added the Committee statement: "Congressman James Walsh, Co-Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee stated, 'A clear majority of citizens in Northern Ireland support the Protocol. The business community does also. To lose the economic benefits of the Protocol coupled with the collapse of the Good Friday Agreement will be a double loss from which Northern Ireland may not recover. We urge President Biden to stand up for the Good Friday Agreement and tell the British government in no uncertain terms that a cold frost will descend on US/UK relations if the Good Friday Agreement is placed in any further jeopardy. There is everything to be gained by doing a deal that boosts the Northern Ireland economy and keeps the peace.'
"Congressman Walsh was joined in his concern by Congressman Bruce Morrison, his fellow co-chair of the Ad Hoc Committee who stated, 'The continued escalation of rhetoric and actual violence against the Protocol will, in time, eventually lead to the collapse of the institutions.
'The opponents of the Good Friday Agreement are using this constant critique of the Protocol to attack the very integrity and core principles that define the Belfast Agreement. Prime Minister Johnson needs to rein in Lord Frost quickly and U.S. Secretary of State Blinken should pick up the phone and tell his counterparts in London in plain American English to stop.'"
The Ad Hoc Committee was formed in early 2019 by a group of forty Americans who have worked for decades on the Northern Ireland peace process.
Ad Hoc is a bi-partisan group that includes five former Ambassadors and two former Special Presidential Envoys. Those signing our initial letter to Prime Minister Theresa May in February of 2019 included former Under Secretary Paula Dobriansky, U.S. Senator Gary Hart, former Special Presidential Envoy Mitchell Reiss, Jake Sullivan, U.S. Senator Chris Dodd, former NSC Advisor Nancy Soderberg, Ambassador Melanne Verveer, Ambassador Elizabeth Bagley and Ambassador Kevin O’Malley among others. the committee can be followed on Twitter at @HocGfa.
