The Friends of Ireland (U.S. Congress)

The Congressional Friends of Ireland or the Friends of Ireland in the United States Congress is an organization in the United States Congress.

The organization is "opposed to violence and terrorism in Northern Ireland and dedicated to maintaining a United States policy that promotes a just, lasting, and peaceful settlement of the conflict that has cost more than 3,100 lives over the past quarter century", according to a statement issed during routine Senate proceedings (pages S3400-S3401) on March 22, 1994.

Ted Kennedy was a founder of this bipartisan group of Senators and Representatives, and U.S. Representative Richard Neal (MA-D) is the current chair. In chapter 9 of his book "Irish America and the Ulster Conflict 1968-1995," (Blackstaff Press, 1995) Andrew J. Wilson writes that the Congressional Friends of Ireland played a significant role in the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985.




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