Entries by McCullough, Andrew

I have a confession to make - I never managed to arrange my 10 questions in Washington BUT I did manage to arrange to interview British Consul General to the United States Mr Bob Peirce via telephone so I must have paid some attention to all this talk of networking after all. I managed to arrange this with much help from my wonderful host parents.

That is just one of the many things WIP offers - the chance to talk to people who you would otherwise never come into contact with; below is a brief snippet of my interview with Mr Peirce.

Bob Peirce has led a distinguished career in the British Foreign Office which he joined at the age of 22 after completing a history degree at Oxford. His first posting was to Hong Kong, a position that he relished having always had the desire to travel in the Far East. ‘Throughout university I didn’t have any clear plan of what I wanted to do, what I did know was that I wanted to travel and the Far East offered the adventure of the unknown so I considered it unbelievably fortunate that my first position took me to Hong Kong’.

Good luck is something that Mr Peirce modestly stresses when discussing his career. Having worked as a member of the Hong Kong government on negotiations for the handover of the region to China and as chief executive for the Patten Commission’s report into the policing of Northern Ireland his career has involved him in perhaps two of the most significant diplomatic issues the British government has been engaged with in the last century. ‘It’s nice to have had the chance to give history a nudge; there are many people who have worked in the foreign office for their entire lives without receiving these kinds of opportunities’ he says.

Mr Peirce describes his work in Northern Ireland as simultaneously the greatest challenge and achievement of his career. It was not in the remit of the Patten Commission to serve as a South African style Truth and Reconciliation panel but Mr Peirce found that as he travelled around the towns of Northern Ireland people used the forums organised by the commission as an outlet for their frustrations that had built up during the troubles. ‘Unionists and Nationalists were in the same room discussing the same issue and at times it was very emotional as some people were hearing the other community’s side of the story for the first time. The meetings seemed to provide people with an outlet to vent their feelings’.

Ten years on from the commission’s report Northern Ireland has a new police force and Mr Peirce believes the province is now in the position whereby it can offer advice internationally with regards to policing: ‘The Patten report can serve as a guideline for a modern police force and it brought interest from around the world. After the report it became accepted to listen to what the PSNI had to say on policing, for instance Chief Constable Hugh Orde recently gave a talk to the LAPD; despite the respect the RUC merited it was in a difficult position to give advice to other bodies’.

Northern Ireland has obviously left its own mark on Mr Peirce as he speaks fondly of his recent visit to Belfast and his pride in seeing the many positive changes that have come over the city in the past ten years. Indeed it is clear that he still retains many connections with the province but the life of a diplomat is not for the sedentary and Mr Peirce now finds himself working in Los Angles as British Consul General to America. ‘The consulate employs over 60 people (the size of a large Embassy in most countries) working towards the goal of improving commercial, business, scientific and educational links between California and Great Britain’.

When people think of the links between Great Britain and America it is common to consider little outside of Westminster and Washington but Mr Peirce is keen to challenge this assumption. ‘The special relationship between the countries is all about perception; the countries share the same genes, but the media can be fixated on the rapport between the Chief Executives as the barometer for this relationship, whether that be Bush or Blair or Brown. The relationship exists at many other levels, for example a joint research project between Queens University Belfast and California Tech. does not depend on how well the President and Prime Minister get along. America was founded on a British political philosophy and grew with immigrants from all over Great Britain and Ireland’.

I would like to thank Mr Peirce for taking a considerable amount of time out of his busy schedule to talk to me, it was much appreciated.

I’ve been back for over a month now and the amazing thing is how quickly everything in life goes back to normal. As expected I returned to the question ‘well how was Washington?’ I keep thinking about this and even now, over a month after returning home, I still have no answer. Thinking about Washington now it seems like a distant mirage, a world away from life at home but for two months it was a distinct reality.

I think the last day of work as an intern was when it really hit me just how extraordinary the experience of being an intern on the Hill had been. Me and Neil spent the afternoon walking the Brumidi- painted corridors recounting the stories we had passed on to tour groups during our internship (if you’re ever there look out for the impressive Hawaiian statues and the painting of John Adams standing on Jefferson’s toes) . Most of these stories are doubtless true but some are likely the result of an inadvertent game of Chinese whispers played out by generations of interns creating an apocryphal history of the buildings (can you really fit the statue of liberty inside the Rotunda?).

Looking around the neo classical grandeur that had been our workplace for the last 6 weeks it suddenly dawned on me just how exceptional, in every sense of the word, working here had been. But, equally I was aware and surprised that this feeling of awe had not been with me for the whole of my 6 weeks there. In fact it was amazing how quickly working on the other side of the Atlantic in such auspicious surroundings became part of the everyday, it took the realisation of departure for it to sink in.
Normality can become whatever situation a person finds themselves in. In Northern Ireland the situation of growing up without an understanding or even with a hatred of your neighbour became normal. The challenge now is to establish a new day to day normality in Northern Ireland without a hatred and mistrust of each other.

In case I haven’t emphasised this enough -WIP really does offer a diversity of experience – this thought struck me as I sat hunched on my knees in the middle of a playground in Ballymun attempting to spray paint the outline of a hop scotch square with all the geometrical care of Pythagoras. As it turned out the square was more of rhombus but as me and Colm (my company in this task) circled the playground we found several perspectives which made our handiwork look more like a playground as opposed to acts of wanton vandalism. Like any good workmen we blamed our tools – or maybe our lack of precision was an after effect of having spent the afternoon at an intoxicatingly- close proximity to spray paint. However the school’s headmistress seemed happy with our work or else didn’t want to shatter our paint speckled good humour.

By the end of the day, our team had dug several vegetable patches, a butterfly garden, weeded flowerbeds and painted a playground for the Ballymun Regeneration Project.

And that is what WIP should be about- challenging yourself and trying to give something back to the community and during a summer of challenging (and often surreal) experiences there was always someone there experiencing it with you. The weekend in Dublin reminded me how much I really loved this summer and the people I spent it with– or maybe that’s just the spray paint talking.

‘Democracy is the worst form of government…... except for all the others’

Sitting in Congressman Kennedy’s office on day one of my internship was a somewhat surreal experience – I was nervous enough without Kennedy family photos peering down at me. I sat there not quite knowing what to do or who to approach until a staffer grabbed me and took me into a meeting, throughout which I said little but compensated by nodding a lot.

There really is no such thing as a typical day on Capitol Hill – I had the chance to attend press conferences with the Congressman, make notes on committee hearings and attend office meetings but I also spent a lot of time fulfilling the more prosaic office duties such as answering the phone or opening the mail. The most important lesson I learned from all this was that although in my own head I couldn’t help considering a committee hearing on energy policy as something pretty important that for the office the most important tasks I fulfilled were opening the mail and answering the phone. Why? Well this brings the office into direct contact with the voters, so while I may not relish my third telephone conversation of the day with Jim from Providence, the office does. If they need to know what’s happening at a committee meeting or press conference they can just turn on C-Span (Capitol Hill’s TV station), rather than waiting for the intern to arrive back with some hastily scribbled notes. When they sent me to committee hearing this was as much for my value as their own, so I can only thank them for giving me so many opportunities like this.

That’s not to say I didn’t learn anything from answering the phone and mail on a daily basis. Harold Ickes described Washington as a ‘city of hand wringers’ persistently postulating on every issue under the sun – committees, committees about committees, think tanks all trading in the currency of policy and influence; sometimes it’s important to listen to Jim from Providence.

Throughout this summer we have been fortunate to be joined in Washington by 7 South African interns (SAWIP). The first thing that we noticed about the South Africans was a deep passion and intensity when they talked about their home nation. They also served another purpose-that of ensuring we were not the only interns with ridiculous accents running around DC. So it was with pleasure that we attended the SAWIP congressional forum, hosted by Congressman Donald Payne. Despite an important vote in the House that evening the Congressman stayed at our event for its entire duration.

We were further privileged to hear a speech from Congressman John Lewis at this event. He recounted how, at the age of 15, seeing the injustice faced by black Americans, he simply asked his mother ‘why?’. She told him firmly not to get involved but a young Lewis had other ideas and said that he has made it his life’s ambition to ‘get in the way’. He has spent his life fighting against racial discrimination and at just the age of 23 he shared the stage with Martin Luther King, speaking on the day of the reverends ‘I have a dream’ speech. Sadly Lewis is the only one of the ten speakers from that day who is still alive, so to hear him speak was truly humbling and something I will never forget.

His words and the words of the SAWIP interns were inspiring and I’d like to thank the South Africans for letting us share in their evening. The event offered us a different insight into DC from the Irish – American events that we had so far attended. It is on nights like this that you realise that WIP really does offer experiences so far removed from everyday life; it is up to us to take these experiences home with us.

Despite my previous blog entry I did not spend my entire time in New York reflecting on 18th century immigration. I mentioned our boat ride on the beast- our captain took us on a journey down the Hudson of which Joseph Conrad would have been proud. Typical boat rides have the reassuring familiarity of the water being outside the boat and you inside, while we kept our end of this bargain the water showed no sign of respecting this boundary. The speedboat sprayed gallons of the Hudson’s finest water into the boat leaving us looking like forlorn, drowned rats. I have to say though that I loved every minute of skipping past the Manhattan skyline on a speedboat. As boatloads of tourists with waxwork expressions passed on their more serene vessels I have to say I'm glad we took The Beast.

While downtown DC often has the feel of a new apartment - pristine and shimmering; New York feels lived in. The smell of hot dog stands, the music of reggae bands punctuated by the incessant beep of a taxi’s horn and as many accents as even the most diverse city can accommodate.

However, it was from a speed boat that raced us down the Hudson toward the Statue of
Liberty that we had our most unique view of the city; not from the street but from
original passageway of the huddled masses of Irish men and woman.

It is a temptation to think of history’s passage and events as pre- ordained but
was it really inevitable that some 150 years after the post- famine wave of Irish reached
these shores a boatload of their countrymen would be making their way down this waterway in such a removed context. The original Irish that arrived faced hardship and an often hostile reception, we have been welcomed with open arms. The journeys could not be more different but reminds us of the historic bond between the nations - a mutual bond in which neither country should forget the debt owed in human and economic terms.

It was with trepidation that many of us crept into the WIP boardroom,such is the Pavlovian conditioning of growing up in our corner of the world. The time had come to at least make an attempt to exorcise the elephant in the boardroom- to openly discuss our personal politics and religion.

Having lived in Edinburgh for some years I think I had became somewhat complacent about the contentious issue of Irish politics. I was therefore surprised to find it quite emotional to discuss my feelings about back home, as it clearly was for many of us. Coming from Northern Ireland never leaves you, no matter where you are. It may effect us all in different ways but it does effect us all.

What emerged was not the dualism that is commonly forced upon us -Protestant/Catholic; Unionist/Nationalist, but a constellation of
opinions that refused to be made binary. There were those with a strong national identity and those with none at all, those with a
strong religious faith and those with none at all. Unionism and Nationalism converged at certain points and diverged at others.

Personally I believe that, regardless of your position, what is inescapable is that together we live on a small island in the middle of
the Atlantic ocean; Ireland North and South sharing the same economic problems. We have little in the way of natural resources and the only opportunity we have for a secure future is investing in our young people. I would love to see the day when the discussion revolved around political issues such as socialism and conservativism rather than the one looming issue of the border. The discussion was insightful and often moving but thankfully it was not naively sugar coated - we have massive issues still to resolve. No group of people could do this in a night but we're at the first step- the ability to explore these issues in an atmosphere without hostility.

'at the end of our exploration
We will return to where we started
And know the place for the first time' TS Elliot

I think during WIP I am starting to know my country for the first time.

The meeting ended with Peter reciting this poem by Michael Longley, written for the original IRA ceasefire, it served as a poignant ending for our meeting and I hope it does the same for this blog entry.

So far our only experience of the great outdoors has been scampering between one air conditioned haven and the next. Saturday brought us to Hemlock providing the perfect opportunity to swap our dress code 1 for outdoor apparel and let off some steam at an outdoor learning centre providing physical, team-work and more cerebral challenges.
Hemlock

Our team of prospective Davy Crocketts ventured toward the wild frontier of the woods of Virginia, accompanied by our guide for the day – Aaron aka The Hulk. How Aaron came to acquire this alter ego was never revealed, I can only assume there is a carcass somewhere in the woods of a bear who incurred Aarons wrath. However Aaron proved to be the ideal guide for our day at Hemlock – providing the perfect mixture of encouragement and motivation. The air dripped with humidity adding an intensity to the challenges. Under the natural conservatory of the treeline we were challenged in an altogether different way than we had been so far on the program. Before we have talked metaphorically of walls to climb, Hemlock added bricks and mortar to reify these walls.


Being America, the land of the lawsuit, we were amused by the concept of ‘spotters’- members of the group who positioned themselves under ladders and walls to watch should any of us plummet earthward. More amusing was the often gross mismatch between the size of spotter and potential faller, ensuring that a spotters main role would be to break the fall.

Thankfully the spotters were not called into action, despite a few people becoming unintentionally acquainted with a rather murky pond and fun was had by all. A perfect day was completed with a barbeque at the O Hara’s, whose residence was like something from a Keats poem. We can only thank them for opening up their home to over 30 adrenalin fuelled Irish kids. The day drew to a close with another memorable Northern Irish football victory as the Northern wippers defeated our Southern counterparts 5-3 in a keenly contested game.

Having never written or delivered a speech week 1 presented me with an ominous task. The speech was to be at the National Press Club (NPC). A venue that has in the past hosted speakers such as Charles de Gaulle, Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama. My nerves of speaking in such an esteemed venue were not assuaged as I arrived on Friday the 13th to give a speech on the 13th floor of the building, on a day that had already seen fires on the metro and power cuts across the city. So I began half expecting to be rudely interrupted by a plague of locusts.

However, with no interruptions from man nor beast the event was a real success. I have nothing but praise for the other programme members who spoke with me and having seen the preparation each person put in throughout the week it was deserved. The late nights spent in the office paid off as it helped us bond as a group and support each other on the day. It was genuinely heartening to hear Gary, Sarah and Elaine discuss entrepreneurship in the province, North – South relations and the future of Northern Ireland.

With regard to my own speech- despite a nervous opening paragraph, that may well have left claw marks in the podium as I sought ballast for my wobbly knees, I soon settled in and dare I say even enjoyed the experience. So in the end it was not the Friday the 13th that everyone feared. Although the nightmare was not over as the evening brought the fancy dress party and with it not one but two Jonathan Chesneys!
Fancy dress photos

What a week! It is impossible to know where to begin with such an incredible first week in DC. It was on the very first Monday that I was informed that I was to give a speech at the National Press Club at the end of the week for a function hosted by the Northern Ireland Bureau. In writing this speech I came to reflect on my first week as part of the Washington Ireland Program.

For me the day that most epitomised our trip so far was Thursday when we visited JO Wilson elementary school in the morning, followed by a meeting with Senator Leahy on the steps of Capitol Hill. I think I would speak for most of the group in saying that our visit to JO Wilson elementary school, in a more underprivileged part of DC, was an incredible experience. Initially the kids were somewhat wary of us but were soon coping well despite being bombarded with accents from Longford to Ballymena. We taught them some Irish language and ended the day with a rousing rendition of ‘Belle of Belfast city’. I can only hope they remember the day for as long and as fondly as I will. It really was fantastic to see so many bright kids; kids who deserve every opportunity available but unfortunately may not receive this. Indeed it must be mentioned that charity organisations such as Greater DC Cares have described the situation in DC public schools as a crisis- with the average school building opening over 60 years ago and urgently in need of repair. The stark distinction between different sides of Washington society was brought sharply into focus by our meeting later in the day with Senator Patrick Leahy on the steps of Capitol Hill.

Senator Leahy is a long time supporter of Irish American relations, having shown support for programs such as the George Mitchell scholarship, so meeting him was a fantastic opportunity. He spoke with great enthusiasm about his trip to Ireland as part of the historic visit of President Clinton and certainly seemed to show a strong affinity with the island. He also revealed another of his great passions- the Batman movies and it emerged that he is to have a starring role in the upcoming Batman movie- so keep an eye out for that. If only every city had a crime fighting playboy philanthropist clad in spandex, on second thoughts that has just given me a rather unpleasant mental image of Donald Trump. Whether discussing Belfast City or Gotham City I was impressed by the Senators enthusiasm and taking time out a busy day to chat with us.

It was important though as we all begin our prestigious internships, many of which are on Capitol Hill, to see the other side of life in Washington. Remembering that the WIP is built on a foundation of leadership and service in the community, it was when visiting the elementary school that I personally felt closest to this ideal.

Once again (apologies of this is getting annoying) I wish to end with a quote this time from Einstein “I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.” It would seem that in Washington more could be done to improve the conditions in public schools but with men like Senator Leahy on the Hill hopefully an improvement is realisable.

25!!! That is the number of emails our group of prospective leaders required to organise a bus from Belfast to Dublin, a journey which, by American standards, may be described colloquially as small fry. The future of Ireland is in safe hands, that is unless the future will involve short haul bus journeys, in which case we’re in trouble. The saving grace of the aforementioned email count is that at least we have a tangible figure which we can compare with our homeward journey to see if indeed this leadership course has been a success. All this in the age of global communication, without the internet we would probably still be somewhere around the Europa hotel searching for a Subway sandwich shop and £1.10 for the bus home! But Dublin was reached and it was onward to Toronto before flying to Washington to begin this incredible journey over the next 8 weeks.

It appears that the Homeland Security Department read my mild mannered jibe at their bureaucracy that I made in my personal profile as I spent a rather uncomfortable amount of time in secondary passport control with an officer who had an unsettling obsession with looking at the palms of my hands. When it was realised that the mistake was found to lie not with me but with one of their own officers I was sent on my way.

Thankfully my faith in American hospitality was restored within the day as I arrived in Washington (albeit somewhat dishevelled in appearance) to be greeted by my host family. A family who have welcomed me into their beautiful house and made me feel at home within days. When I signed up for WIP it was something I never really thought about but I cannot emphasise enough what a wonderful part of the programme living with a host family is. Arriving back to friendly faces and being asked how your day was certainly beats an anonymous hotel room.

Week 1 news will follow really soon!!!!!