On His First Trip to Northern Ireland, a Kennedy Symbolizes Hope

Here in County Antrim, where the roots of history reach deep into the soul of both Ireland and America, the visit of an Irish American senator is an important moment.

If his name is Edward M. Kennedy, he may even become a fleeting symbol of new bridges between Roman Catholic Irish Americans and Northern Irish Protestants--and also of the chasm they span.

“People must recognize that 44 million Americans of Irish descent are not indifferent to the outcome of peace negotiations here,” Kennedy said Saturday morning. He had come as a peacemaker, hailing what he called a “new spirit of hope” that “can banish the fear that blinds . . . [and] conquer the anger that fuels the merchants of violence.”

Making his first visit to Northern Ireland, Kennedy stopped here briefly to visit the white thatched ancestral home of the family of Andrew Jackson, one of eight U.S. presidents whose forebears hailed from County Antrim.

The seaside Jackson cottage is not far from where Dutch Protestant Prince William of Orange landed his army one June day in 1690. A few weeks later, William defeated the Catholic English King James II in a battle that would set the stage for sectarian hatreds still raging three centuries later.

This is Protestant country, mind you, but Carrickfergus, now a city of 37,000 about half an hour from Belfast, celebrated its American connection in the ‘60s by naming a street after the slain John F. Kennedy.

That was before the beginning of the three decades of sectarian struggle in which Protestant and Catholic terrorists would claim 3,200 lives. At the height of “the Troubles,” Protestants saw the American Kennedy clan, which traces its ancestry to County Wexford, as powerful apologists for insurgent republicanism.

Result: Kennedy Way was renamed Prince William Way, according to Mayor David Hilditch, a Royal Mail postman. He represents a hard-line Protestant unionist party, headed by the Rev. Ian Paisley, that refuses to participate in the peace talks because it would mean meeting representatives of the outlawed Irish Republican Army.

“Even today, when you mention the Kennedy name, people here think of Sinn Fein-Gerry Adams supporters and fund-raisers for terrorists,” said Hilditch as he awaited Kennedy wearing his chain of office. “I had to check with Dr. Paisley, who said to receive him. I’m going to give the senator some of our party documents. Maybe he’ll take on board the ideas in them.”

Speaking at the University of Ulster campus in Londonderry on Friday, Kennedy said Irish Americans “have a long-enduring desire to see peace and prosperity take root here. Our commitment embraces the welfare of all the people of Northern Ireland--and when we say ‘all,’ we mean all.”

Speaking with The Times before a peat fire in the Jackson cottage, Kennedy said that President Clinton, who himself has called on both communities to make sacrifices in the name of peace, was aware that Kennedy would be making his appeal.

“As you extend yourselves to reach agreement, the United States will exert itself to build more bridges. Personal bridges. Political bridges. Economic bridges,” Kennedy said in his speech, pledging American economic help to reinforce any agreement.

The Massachusetts Democrat’s visit coincided with a delicate moment in the as-ever convoluted political scrum here.

Peace talks co-sponsored by Britain and Ireland and headed by American statesman George J. Mitchell are scheduled to resume Monday after a month’s recess.

But four months after the talks began, they have no forward momentum or even any clear agenda.

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Amid an alarming renaissance of killing, it took last-stand maneuvering by Marjorie “Mo” Mowlam, Britain’s minister for the divided province, to avert a potentially devastating walkout by a party representing Protestant militants.

One London newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, reported Saturday that a frustrated British Prime Minister Tony Blair will try to quicken the pace of negotiations in collaboration with Ireland by proposing a power-sharing assembly that would group the rival Catholic and Protestant communities with representatives of the two governments.

The Protestant-majority province is now ruled directly from London, to the satisfaction of unionists and the fury of Catholic republicans who seek unity with the Irish Republic.

On Saturday, Kennedy made the political rounds of Northern Ireland’s capital, Belfast, visiting civic and party leaders of different stripes. His receptions ranged from correct to cordial. There were motorcycle escorts and chase cars wherever he went, but no evidence of any of the personal animosity his presence would once have awakened.

Could he have made the Northern Ireland visit even two or three years ago?

“Probably not,” Kennedy replied. “I don’t think so. But over the past five years, we’ve had the chance to get to know a lot of the Protestant leaders and to welcome them to the House and Senate. We’re aware of their continued skepticism, but we are trying to build some confidence.”

Slim bridges, a geologic chasm. One early Kennedy exchange of ideas Saturday was with David Trimble, leader of the largest unionist party in the province.

“The big difference is that, a couple of years ago, it would never have occurred to him to come,” Trimble told The Times after meeting the visiting senator.