Category Archives: United States of America

Kerry senator calls on Trina Vargo to explain her Irish-American bashing

Mark Daly wants US Ireland Alliance boss brought to book

By PATRICK COUNIHAN,IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Monday, April 2, 2012, 7:51

New efforts are being made to haul controversial US Ireland Alliance chief Trina Vargo before the Irish parliament in Dublin.

Furious Kerry senator Mark Daly had demanded Vargo be quizzed by the Irish authorities after her recent attack on Prime Minister Enda Kenny.

Vargo accused Kenny of ‘embarrassing’ Ireland by presenting ‘shamrockery’ gifts to US President Barack Obama at the White House.

Vargo was particularly critical of Kenny’s decision to present President Obama with a Certificate of Irishness during their St Patrick’s Day meeting.

Just last week Vargo posted an online blog questioning the presentation of the certificate and described it as ‘lamentable shamrockery’.

Fianna Fail senator Daly responded by slamming her comments and called on Vargo to apologise to Kenny.

The Kerryman also asked that she should be called to Dublin to report on her organisation’s ‘value for money’ in relation to the funding it receives from the Irish parliament’s Committee on Education.

Now the Irish Examiner reports that the row between the pair has escalated after Vargo wrote in her blog that: “The Department of Foreign Affairs will use even their own Taoiseach to flog those things. The shop in Shannon Airport must have been out of leprechaun dolls and chunks of the auld sod.

Guess who will be off the Irish Embassy guest list, again!)

“The Taoiseach joked that the certificate is ‘rare’ – that’s because no one wants them. I know the country’s saving money, but I’m sure one of Ireland’s great writers would have been only to happy to sign a book for the President.

“Irish America can be just as bad. During this week it is always people from Ireland and Northern Ireland who tell me how horrified they are by the shamrockery, and they’re right, it’s embarrassing.”

Daly accused Vargo of Irish-American bashing in response.

He said: “Ms Vargo, for all her political experience, seems to have nothing good to say about virtually anyone in the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ireland or the Irish American Community.

“Ms Vargo should issue an apology. One would have to wonder what was behind this recent outburst.”

The Irish Examiner reports that Vargo then issued a ‘fiery response’ to the Kerry senator in which she stated that Irish Government funds have not been spent on the Mitchell Scholarship programme for more than a decade.

She also pointed out that audit reports from her organisation are regularly sent to the Department of Education in Ireland.

“I find it disturbing that you suggest that my job is to only wear the green jersey,” she added. “I am apparently allowed to praise Ireland and promote Ireland, but never criticise it.

“This demand that people keep quiet and never raise questions is one reason Ireland is in the situation it now finds itself.

Order of Business

9th of February

Senator Mark Daly:

 I thank the Leader for his answer on yesterday’s Order of Business. I agree with his policy that only those in the Chamber should get a reply. The clarification was that the Taoiseach and Tánaiste will be seeking waivers for the undocumented Irish from the US Secretary of State, Mrs. Clinton, and President Obama when they travel to Washington. I thank him for the information.

Order of Business

7th February 2012

Senator Mark Daly:     I support the amendment to the Order of Business. I commend the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform and former Congressman, Mr. Bruce Morrison. I ask the Leader to organise a debate on the Irish overseas. There has been a push for many decades on the issue and I spent some time on Capitol Hill with former Congressman Morrison and Mr. Kieran Staunton. People are seeking a new visa Bill for the Irish, and Senator Schumer from New York has put forward legislation on the matter. Previously, there was a provision for the undocumented, whereby they would have been able to seek waivers; unfortunately, that will not remain in the Bill.

 I know the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade is coming to the House this afternoon and we will put the issue to him then. A general debate on the undocumented in Ireland would also be welcome, as families are suffering as a result of the inability of people and their loved ones to return from the United States for family events and bereavements. There will be no waiver provision in the Bill. There is an opportunity. The Tánaiste, Deputy Gilmore, is going to the United States next week and he will be there again in March. I assume that the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and the White House would provide a government to government waiver, as they did for Mexico. That is nothing unusual. They allowed 48,000 Mexicans to receive a waiver. That would solve our undocumented problem literally overnight. I ask the Leader to organise a debate, not just today on foreign affairs as he has done, which I welcome, but also on the undocumented Irish in the United States and the provision of a waiver programme. The White House, and the Clintons who are great friends of this country, have simply not been asked. One could ask why that is the case.