Latest news with #EdWalsh
Extra.ie
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Extra.ie
Student views on horrific issues 'shouldn't affect' J-1 experience
Students should not be deprived of a US J-1 visa for expressing a view on 'horrific issues that are happening around the world', the Tánaiste has said. Last month, the US Embassy in Dublin said students applying for J-1 visas will undergo 'comprehensive and thorough social media vetting'. Simon Harris said he had 'a good conversation' about visas with Ed Walsh, US Ambassador to Ireland, yesterday. Students should not be deprived of a US J-1 visa for expressing a view on 'horrific issues that are happening around the world', the Tánaiste has said. Pic: Olivier Hoslet/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock He said: 'I was making the point that we live in a country where young people have very, very strong views – as do I – and they have every right to express those views. 'Freedom of speech matters. Being able to freely express yourself – online, offline, through protest – is an important part of our democracy, and I know Mr Trump is somebody who I would imagine in his own country would champion free speech. 'So we very much want our young people to continue to be able to articulate their very strongly held views… but that shouldn't deprive somebody from going on J-1.'
BreakingNews.ie
14-07-2025
- Politics
- BreakingNews.ie
Students should not be ‘deprived' of US visas for protesting, Harris says
Students should not be deprived of a US J-1 visa for expressing a view on 'horrific issues that are happening around the world', the Tánaiste has said. Last month, the US Embassy in Dublin announced that students applying for J-1 visas will undergo 'comprehensive and thorough vetting' of their social media. Advertisement The changes also apply for other exchange visitor applicants in the F, M and J non-immigrant classifications. All applicants are asked to list all their social media profiles, and make their accounts publicly accessible. Failure to do so could lead to a visa being rejected. The embassy said it will use all available information in its visa screening to identify those who 'are inadmissible' to the US, including those who pose a threat to national security. Advertisement It said it wanted to ensure those applying for admission into the US 'do not intend to harm Americans and our national interests'. It added that a US visa 'is a privilege, not a right'. Ireland's national students' union said the new measures represent a significant and disproportionate intrusion into personal lives and digital privacy, and that they raise serious concerns about freedom of expression and online surveillance. Simon Harris said he had 'a really good conversation' about student visas with Ed Walsh, US ambassador to Ireland, on Monday. Advertisement Speaking to reporters afterwards, Mr Harris said: 'I think Ambassador Walsh knows the importance of the people-to-people connection between our two countries. 'I was making the point that we live in a country where young people have very, very strong views – as do I, by the way – on a lot of what's going on in the world and they have every right to express those views. 'And freedom of speech matters and being able to freely express yourself – online, offline, through protest – is an important part of our democracy, and I know President Trump is somebody who I would imagine in his own country would champion free speech. He added: 'So we very much want our young people to continue to be able to articulate their very strongly held views on horrific issues that are happening around the world but that shouldn't deprive somebody from going on J-1.' Advertisement Mr Harris said while immigration policy and visas is a matter for the US, he said he and the ambassador agreed to keep in touch on the matter. 'Ireland and the US have been friends for hundreds of years. It's important we keep those connections going, and I wouldn't like to see anything that causes apprehension for a young person travelling to the United States – and I just made that point to Ambassador Walsh.'
Irish Times
14-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Simon Harris tells US ambassador ‘landing zone' can be found to avert trade war
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris discussed trade issues on Monday with the new US ambassador to Dublin, Ed Walsh, following President Donald Trump 's threat at the weekend to impose 30 per cent tariffs on EU exports to the US. At the scheduled meeting, Mr Harris told the ambassador that he believed there was a 'landing zone' for an agreement between the two sides that would avoid the threatened tariffs on August 1st. Mr Harris also outlined Ireland's concerns for the pharmaceutical sector, which is the subject of an investigation by the US authorities that could lead to further trade measures by Washington. Mr Harris explained how this was a 'significant concern for Ireland', officials said. The two men also discussed the situation in the Middle East and the need for a ceasefire. When the Occupied Territories Bill was raised by the ambassador, the Tánaiste explained the process that the Bill is going through, officials said. READ MORE The Bill, and the Irish Government's wider response to the situation in Gaza, has been the subject of significant criticism in Washington. The previous US ambassador, Claire Cronin, made representations to Dublin about the Bill, which would ban – as currently drafted – the import of goods produced in the occupied Palestinian territories. Pro-Israeli organisations have been lobbying against the Bill in Washington, with an analysis supplied by one group to the Irish Government claiming it would affect US companies operating in Ireland. Commenting on the Bill recently, the US senator Jim Risch, who is chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said it showed Ireland was on a 'hateful, anti-Semitic path that will only lead to self-inflicted economic suffering'. Mr Harris and Mr Walsh also discussed in Ukraine, Northern Ireland, Ireland's J1 visa programme and the upcoming college (American) football and NFL games taking place in Ireland later this year, officials said.
Irish Times
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Ireland has a proud history of opposing anti-Semitism
Donald Trump 's new ambassador to Ireland, Ed Walsh , is a man with a mission: to combat the anti-Semitism allegedly rife here. At his confirmation hearing, the Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Jim Risch, told Walsh to convey the message that Ireland is 'very much out of step with the United States ' in its criticisms of Israel . Walsh replied that this 'will be a big part of my conversations' in Dublin. Risch has since claimed that Ireland 'is on a hateful, anti-Semitic path that will only lead to self-inflicted economic suffering'. He has warned that the Trump administration will retaliate against the Occupied Territories Bill which seeks to ban trade with illegal settlements in the West Bank and Gaza : 'If this legislation is implemented, America will have to seriously reconsider its deep and ongoing economic ties. We will always stand up to blatant anti-Semitism.' [ The Occupied Territories Bill: How long will it take to become law and will there be international implications? Opens in new window ] Ambassador Walsh said at his hearing that he would be seeking a detailed briefing on alleged Irish anti-Semitism. It might, then, be useful to inform him of the history of Irish solidarity with the Jewish people and help him understand a concept that Risch seems incapable of grasping: Ireland's horror at the collective torture of Gaza springs from the same moral outrage that made Irish leaders such powerful opponents of anti-Semitism. The ambassador might ask his officials to brief him on the two figures whose achievements – Catholic Emancipation and the transfer of the land of Ireland from the Ascendancy to the tenant farmer – did most to shape the nation we have become. They might tell him how (and more importantly why) Daniel O'Connell and Michael Davitt raised their voices against the systemic injustices inflicted on the Jewish people. READ MORE Those who experience collective oppression can react in one of two ways. The first is to imagine themselves as unique victims whose exceptional status entitles them to use any kind of violence against those they perceive to be their enemies. The second is to develop a deep disgust at all oppression. It is to say that what happened to us should happen to no human being. In the first, victimhood is hoarded as a special form of entitlement. It closes down all compassion. In the second, victimhood is shared. To know what it's like for yourself is also to know what it must be like for others. To claim justice for your own people is to uphold it for everyone. An important moment in the history of this second kind of response is a letter O'Connell wrote in 1829 to Isaac Goldsmid, one of the leaders of the Jewish community in England. O'Connell had just forced Catholic Emancipation on the British government and been elected as the first Catholic allowed to take his seat in the House of Commons. Goldsmid wrote to congratulate him on his victory. O'Connell's replied: 'I entirely agree with you on the principle of freedom of conscience, and no man can admit that sacred principle without extending it equally to the Jew as to the Christian ... With these sentiments you will find me the constant and active friend to every measure which tends to give the Jews an equality of civil rights with all the other King's subjects ... I think every day a day of injustice until that civil equality is attained by the Jews.' O'Connell's point was simple but potent: there are no rights that are not universal rights. Liberation for one group is a mere concession that can be withdrawn at any time – unless it extends equally to all. [ Daniel O'Connell used contradictions in his own life to achieve goals, says historian Opens in new window ] In 1903, Davitt travelled from Ireland to Kishinev (now Chisinau, capital of Moldova). He went there to investigate a pogrom fomented by the Tsarist authorities against the Jewish population of the city. His reports for the Hearst newspapers in the US and his book Within the Pale: The True Story of Anti-Semitic Persecution in Russia still stand among the most powerful accounts of the systemic terrorisation of a defenceless population by a cruel and cynical state. Davitt went into the houses where Jewish families had been massacred: 'I saw blood spattered on the walls of the rooms and yard, and picked up a child's schoolbook on which some murderer had wiped his hands.' Today, of course, he would pick up bloodied schoolbooks in southern Israel after the Hamas massacres or in shattered homes in Gaza. It is striking that much of what Davitt writes about the treatment of the Jewish communities in Tsarist Russia is so eerily redolent of the status of Palestinians now. Jews are 'confined by law within a kind of economic concentration camp'. They are 'routed from their dwellings as if they were so many noxious animals'. Davitt quoted with approval a letter from the English Catholic cardinal Henry Manning on the position of the Russian Jews: 'so hemmed in and hedged about' that 'they are watched as criminals'. This system constituted 'both a violent and a refined injustice'. And it created a duty of protest: 'The public moral sense of all nations is created and sustained by participation in [the] universal common law; when this is anywhere broken, or wounded, it is not only sympathy but civilisation that has the privilege of respectful remonstrance.' The question the ambassador might ponder is this: should the Ireland of his ancestors now abandon the tradition of O'Connell and Davitt? They believed that anti-Semitism, both in its 'refined' forms (legal discrimination in Britain) and its 'violent' expressions in the Russian pogroms, was a breach of universal law. They abhorred such smooth and rough abuses, not because they were inflicted on Catholics or Jews or Irish people, but because they were perpetrated against human beings. They believed that there is a duty to speak out when that law is 'anywhere broken or wounded'. Respectful remonstrance about Gaza is part of our heritage of opposing anti-Semitism. For the best part of our political tradition, the rights of Jews and of Palestinians to live without persecution are not in binary opposition. They are the same human rights – and their violation demands the same protest.
Irish Times
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Miriam Lord: Guests sang Donald Trump's signature tune at the US ambassador's bash until embarrassment got the better of them
With Donald Trump cutting loose on his second term in the White House and his good buddy Ed Walsh hosting his first big public event here as US ambassador to Ireland, guests at the embassy's annual Fourth of July celebrations in the Phoenix Park were wondering if the bash would be Mega or Maga. Neither, as it turned out. It wasn't mega. A smaller crowd than last year enjoyed Uncle Sam's hospitality on the back lawn of the ambassador's Deerfield residence. The event is normally awash with politicians from all the main parties but Sinn Féin , Labour and the Social Democrats chose to swerve the festivities in protest at the Trump administration's support of Israel as it continues its genocidal war on Gaza . READ MORE Their absence, particularly that of the Shinners, who are always fond of cosying up with their American friends, put quite a dent in the numbers. The turnout from Government TDs was also smaller than usual. The Ministers present included Peter Burke and Martin Heydon . Attorney General Rossa Fanning – quite the man about town – popped in early to meet the ambassador before nipping off to the King's Inns to hear fellow barrister and Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan take a few lighthearted pot shots at him during an entertaining speech. Independent Ireland TDs mustered in force while Independent Senator Sharon Keogan, a self-proclaimed Maga supporter , was loving the occasion. Mattie McGrath and Carol Nolan, formerly of the now defunct Rural Independents, queued with many others to have their picture taken with the ambassador while former Fine Gael minister Alan Shatter was spotted in the crowd. And there wasn't a big Maga vibe going on either. It was all rather low key, with added Michael Flatley , who tooted the flute for his friend Ed. He said they'd met recently in the Oval Office. As luck would have it, the Feet of Flames star just happened to have a bottle of his signature label whiskey on his person when posing for a photo with Walsh, and then he obviously had to hold it up between them so it didn't spoil the line of his jacket. Michael Flatley on stage during the Fourth of July celebrations in Dublin, without a bottle of his whiskey. Photograph: Dan Dennison Una Healy, once of The Saturdays, had the crowd up dancing as she performed onstage at the end of the night with The Swing Cats. According to the Daily Mail, the 'singer, 43, stunned in a £525 Nadine Merabi bridal-style jumpsuit which featured removable diamanté straps and a detachable embellished belt' while she 'added inches to her sculpted frame as she slipped into a pair of towering silver stilettos'. Ambassador Walsh welcomed more than 2,000 guests to the Deerfield residence, which he is proud to call his family home for the next few years. 'I've been told many times that this is the best job in the entire world, and now that I've been here for a week, I honestly feel like that's the truth,' he said. Only a week? He'd want to give it a bit longer. Walsh thanked his 'good friend' President Trump for entrusting him with this new role. He is a very keen golfer and a member of Trump's Bedminister club in New Jersey. Apparently, he is hoping to get back to Jersey in August to hit the course with the Potus. In the meantime, the talk in Deerfield on Thursday night was that golfer Bryson DeChambeau , a two-time US Open winner, may stay in Dublin with the ambassador in advance of the Open Championship, which is taking place in Portrush later this month. Donald Trump with Bryson DeChambeau, who may be visiting the Phoenix Park before this month's Open Championship. Photograph:In his speech, Walsh told the crowd: 'I stand before you as a businessman, a family man and someone who deeply values the ties that bind communities together, from the boardroom to the golf course.' That last bit got a few groans and a deeply sighed 'ah jaaaayis' from a man behind us. The ambassador was joined by his wife Lynn and most of their family, including his daughter Hannah and her fiance Pat Beljan. 'They are planning their wedding for a year from now at this beautiful, beautiful residence.' That got a warm round of applause. It was reminiscent of the British ambassador's announcement at his bash last week when he disclosed he is staying permanently in Dublin when his term is up. Paul Johnston was among the large contingent of diplomats at the celebration. Since Minister Darragh O'Brien mistakenly (and hilariously) referred to him by the wrong name during his speech at the UK event, he had to put up with people calling him 'Jonathan' all night. That joke will soon wear thin. Also present was the Canadian ambassador, Dennis King. He wasn't in the least bit bothered about Donald Trump's musings on turning Canada into the 51st US state. Dennis and his wife Jana Hemphill, both former political journalists, found the idea highly amusing. They held their own garden party last week for Canada Day. They had a moose called Bruce and a dugout canoe on the lawn. Bruce was stuffed. Rather like the crowd in Deerfield after a feed of mini hot-dogs, burgers, fries, ice-cream and sweeties. Tánaiste Simon Harris on stage with US ambassador to Ireland Edward Walsh and his wife and daughters. Photograph: Dan Dennison Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris spoke on behalf of the Government. It was a very long speech, probably because he had to wrap up strong comments on Gaza in a lot of soft soap about our mutual bond, shared history and how the two nations 'are intertwined in each other's stories'. As the grand finale fireworks display burst across the sky, America the Beautiful blared from the speakers. Then the opening strains of Trump's signature tune hit the air and the beer- and bourbon-soused guests jumped up and began singing along and doing the actions. 'YMCA!' they roared until, suddenly, some of them realised what they were doing and stopped, ever so slightly embarrassed. This was the highlight of the night Another refreshing first for Verona Murphy Verona Murphy made history late last year when she was elected as the Dáil's first female Ceann Comhairle. It's a very busy life: not only does Verona police Dáil proceedings, she chairs the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, which oversees the running of Leinster House along with various other procedural committees. Then there are the VIPs who must be hosted when they visit, the many functions and receptions she has to attend in Kildare Street, the never-ending round of diplomatic engagements and the official trips abroad. Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy said of her ceremonial robes: 'There was a sort of chemical smell off them. A bit like Shake n' Vac.' Photograph: Maxwells/PA Wire Verona, who didn't opt for a State driver when she got the job, drives up to Dublin every day from her Co Wexford home. Perhaps not that surprising as she was boss of the Irish Road Haulage Association in a former life. Enough for any woman to be getting on with. She was at the Independence Day knees-up at the US ambassador's residence with her daughter Robyn and sister Martina. Which is when we discovered that Verona has notched up another historic milestone: the first Ceann Comhairle to bring home their ceremonial robes and wash them. Did they run up a new one for her when she assumed the role, given that all the previous incumbents were men – tall or portly or a mixture of both? They did not. The robe is swimming on her. She pulls the front of it down so it sits better on her shoulders and then 'bunches and bustles' everything else behind as she sits down. Verona's predecessor, Seán Ó Fearghaíl, told the Dáil in 2022 how the robe was the subject of a Freedom of Information request the previous year when a newspaper asked how much it cost and how much was spent on dry-cleaning it. Seán Ó Fearghaíl told the Dáil in 2022 that the Ceann Comhairle's robes were the subject of a Freedom of Information request. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw 'We discovered it was here so long that nobody knew what it had cost, and it had never been cleaned.' It was sent off to be laundered, but that's a while ago now. There are actually three robes. 'There was a sort of chemical smell off them. A bit like Shake n' Vac,' winced Verona. After wearing one for a while she gives it a quick run through the washing machine at home and hangs it up to air-dry in the hot press. 'Comes out perfect. Doesn't even need to be ironed.' Paschal Donohoe sums up the Government's problem One simple question and the Government couldn't answer it. Will third-level students have to face a Big Ugly Bill of €3,000 in September or will their annual contribution remain at the reduced €2,000 rate? The Opposition had a ball this week when the Coalition's top guns and all their media-savvy advisers couldn't come up with a way to communicate themselves out of a situation they'd blundered themselves into. Minister for Higher Education James Lawless struggled to explain how the student contribution charge might go up in the short term but come down in the long term after changes in October's budget. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers and Minister for Higher Education James Lawless struggled to explain how the fee might go up in the short term but come down in the long term after changes in October's budget. Changes that they cannot talk about because they don't know precisely what they will be yet so they can only drop hints and waffle, which just made everything worse. The Tánaiste was commentating from the sidelines and had lots to say on everything but the fevered question of the hike that Lawless suggested is on the cards. And there were occasional noises off from Japan, where the Taoiseach was leading a trade delegation and having his picture taken in exotic places. But who really cared about student fees when, in an unexpected Nightmare in Bunratty Castle episode, Micheál Martin was plonked in front of an Irish harp in Tokyo with his fingers splayed across the strings and a demented smile on his face? Taoiseach Micheál Martin: The smile was probably from the relief of not being asked to hold a fiddle. Photograph: Government of Ireland The smile was probably from the relief of not being asked to hold a fiddle. Back home, the broader detail of the third-level fee system, and the fact that a very large proportion of the student population already pays little or no fees, was neither here nor there. The bottom line was that the Government, having promised to further reduce costs for students, is unable to say it is not putting them up. Telling people, in a very roundabout way, that everything will work out better in the end was never going to work, not when the Opposition had concrete figures to go on. The move affects people from higher-income groups. This might explain why Maeve O'Connell, Fine Gael TD for Dublin-Rathdown, rang Liveline to express her disquiet over the lack of clarity, to reassure fuming callers that the budget process is at a very early stage and to make it known in south Co Dublin that she is taking a very dim view indeed. Across in the Upper House, Government Senators lined up with Opposition colleagues against any increase. Fianna Fáil Senators blamed the Fine Gael Minister for Finance and Fine Gael Senators blamed the Fianna Fáil Minister for Public Expenditure. Thankfully, after two days of utter confusion, Paschal Donohoe came in on Thursday to take Leaders' Questions. He has been around the economic block a fair bit and is going for a hat-trick as president of the Eurogroup of finance ministers next week. Paschal knows his sums and would surely clear up the pre-budget conundrum. Fianna Fáil Senators blamed the Fine Gael Minister for Finance Paschal Dohohoe for the confusion and Fine Gael Senators blamed the Fianna Fáil Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers. Photograph: Barry Cronin Will the charge be €2,000 or €3,000 in September? He gave the lowdown to Jennifer Whitmore of the Social Democrats. 'The reality is that 143,000 students and their families benefit from free fees ... 'The reality is that 60,000 students at the moment benefit from lower forms of student contribution ... 'The reality is that, today, 80,000 of our student population are benefiting from either no fees at all, because of the various schemes that are in place, or partial fees.' Which doesn't add up. And no clarity on whether the contribution fee will rise by a grand or stay as it is. You'd have to worry about the nation's finances.
