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When George came to town: The EU- US summit in Dromoland Castle, County Clare, Ireland, June 25,26 2004.
The visit of George W. Bush for less than a 24 hour stop-over to Ireland a few months ago was meant to generate photo opportunities that would play well with the sizeable Irish-American vote for the President’s re-election campaign back home. The neo-con 'war on terror' continues to deeply divide many Americans, even after Bush's re-election. Outside the U.S. this crusade has united popular opinion around the globe against the exercise of super-power military might and the self-interested pursuit of international policy objectives. In Ireland, the warm welcome usually accorded to visiting U.S. presidents was nowhere to be seen. Clinton was greeted by flag waving crowds and had the Irish media and public eating out of his hand; Ronald Reagan even received a fairly fond reception; while JFK's visit was a high point in diplomatic tourism for the Republic in the sixties. George W's one night stay will only be remembered for the animosity and deep resentment it generated. Bush would have seen protesting crowds but for the extraordinary security cordon around Shannon airport and Dromoland Castle: however the anti-war banners proclaiming President Bush a war criminal and telling him to go home were not what White House spin machine had in mind for the US media.
The Bush visit to Ireland offered an interesting snap-shot of contemporary Irish politics in these troubled, globalised times. A couple of days before Bush arrived in Ireland the state's national public service broadcaster, RTE, screened an interview with President Bush by their Washington correspondent Carol Coleman. This interview went out on the main news bulletin and attracted a large audience, not least because it was screened immediately after England crashed out of Euro 2004. Unsurprisingly, in the bar I was in, not many punters were crying into their beers. However, the good atmosphere (helped by the new ban on smoking in public places) soon turned sour as the viewing Irish public witnessed a bizarre and confrontational encounter where the President seemed more intent on sticking to his rehearsed script rather than actually addressing many of Coleman's questions. On several occasions Bush appeared both perplexed and annoyed with the journalists persistence. The interview set the tone for the rest of the visit: it would be rather fraught and unpleasant, but would galvanise public opinion against Bush and his international agenda.
For residents of Shannon and Newmarket-on-Fergus the summit was to cause considerable inconvenience. The President's visit represented the largest ever security operation in the Irish State's history with some 6,000 Gardaí (police) and Defence Forces staff mobilised to protect the U.S. President, at an estimated cost of €3 million to the Irish taxpayer. Access to Shannon Town and Newmarket-on-Fergus was restricted, with all public transport links to the latter cancelled from Friday evening, and throughout the Saturday. Residents were required to obtain permits for their cars, and for those of any relatives and friends who might be visiting them by car over the weekend.
Such was the supposed terrorist threat that all the grass verges on the five mile route between Shannon Airport and Dromoland Castle were mown, lest a member of Al-Qaeda tried to ambush the Presidential convoy from the long grass. Manholes to sewerage pipes were also identified as a risk to President Bush's security and were therefore welded closed. Temporary walls and barriers were built around the centre of the town to block access to the President's travel route to Dromoland castle. Helicopters patrolled the skies as armoured personnel carriers and tanks guarded Shannon airport. For locals in Co. Clare these security measures were extraordinary, yet according to US security experts these are apparently standard procedures when the President is visiting foreign soil.
Hours before Air Force One was due to arrive in Shannon the security operation swung into action as a prominent anti-war activist (and former Irish Army officer) Ed Horgan, and two other peace campaigners, were arrested by an Irish navy vessel in the estuary near the airport before they could make their planned protest. Those protests that did occur were somewhat sporadic and pointed to a fracturing of the anti-war coalition in Ireland.
Demonstrations against the Bush visit were scattered throughout Ireland. There were minor protests in towns such as Waterford, Sligo, Tralee, and Galway. However, the main actions were held in Shannon and Dublin. All these protests were opposed to Bush visiting Ireland and the ongoing support by the Irish government of the American war effort in Iraq by allowing US military transport and supply planes to re-fuel in Shannon on their way to and from the gulf.
The Shannon demonstration attracted a couple of thousand demonstrators, with buses travelling from Cork, Galway and Dublin. These protestors joined an anarchist peace camp set up outside Shannon -'AmBush 2004' -in marching to the newly erected security perimeter around the airport. Nearly all the road signs to the airport read 'USAF Shannon' and that graffiti continues to remind visitors to the area of the daily traffic through the airport. The Shannon rally was non-violent, which made the prominent police presence seem all the more inappropriate. The Gardai policing the meeting appeared very relaxed and one admitted to me that he thought all the security was 'over the top', pointing to the riot police units behind the security barriers at the entrance to the airport.
While there was a palpable unity of purpose among the protestors the same could not be said of those 'leading' the anti-war movement in Ireland. Splits - the first item on any Irish political agenda according the Brendan Behan - were evident in the run up to the Bush visit. The Irish Anti-War Movement (IAWM) and Anti-War Ireland (AWI) were at loggerheads over tactics, with the former wanting to hold the demonstration in Dublin to attract as big a crowd as possible and the latter keen to protest at Shannon. As it happened up to 20,000 demonstrators attended a march in Dublin that evening. However, the IAWM complained afterwards that the media virtually ignored their rally, which is not altogether surprising given the fact that nearly all the Irish news media, and much of the international media, were in Shannon awaiting the arrival of Bush.
With the world's media in attendance for the ritual of the leaders press conference and the usual diet of photo opportunities perhaps the most memorable media images to emerge during the summit were of George Bush standing at his hotel window in his vest. This sparked a flurry of stories about a serious breach of security until it was revealed that the pictures were mistakenly taken by an Irish government film crew. However, perhaps the cameras were pointing in the wrong place and at the wrong time, as arguably the most important business of the summit was being conducted less than 30 miles away where the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) were meeting in Adare Manor in Co. Limerick.
Advancing the Neo-liberal agenda in Ireland
The TABD meetings ahead of the EU-US summit were attended by the Irish Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) Mary Harney, the US Secretary of State for Commerce, Donald Evans, the EU Commissioner for Enterprise, Mr Jan Figel, as well as a selection of powerful chief executives from American and European transnational corporations. These important meetings received almost no media coverage or scrutiny at all.
According to the Irish EU presidency official website 'The TABD comprises business leaders from US and European companies operating in the United States, Europe and globally and seeks to establish a barrier-free transatlantic market between the US and EU that will serve as a catalyst for global trade liberalisation and prosperity. Companies are represented by their chief executives who are personally involved in setting the TABD's priorities and policy recommendations. Since 1995, the TABD has played an important role in fostering the exchange of ideas and promoting constructive solutions in US-EU issues'. Participating TNCs in the TABD include: Coca-Cola, Unilever, Arcelor, AstraZeneca, BASF, Bison Gear & Engineering Corporation, British American Tobacco, Citigroup, Deloitte & Touche, Deutsche Bank, The Dow Chemical Company, EDS, Ericsson, Ernst & Young, The Estée Lauder Companies, FedEx, GE, KPMG, Lafarge, Merck, Philips, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Renault, Repsol, SAP, SEB, Time Warner, Tramco Inc, UPS and Visa International.
The TABD presented their recommendations for the establishment of a barrier-free transatlantic market to the EU/US Summit. Their agenda included the implications for transatlantic trade of the new US and EU anti-terrorist security controls, Intellectual Property Rights, International Accounting Standards and reviewed developments in the World Trade Organisation Doha Development Round talks.
In an article for the International Herald Tribune Bertie Ahern, the Irish Taoiseach (prime minister) and then President of the European Council, remarked: 'One of the core elements of the Irish European Union presidency program has been the transatlantic relationship - …I believe a close transatlantic partnership is essential for prosperity and growth on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as the broader international community. Working together, the European Union and the United States can be a formidable force for good in the world'. His sentiments were echoed by his deputy, Mary Harney (leader of the Progressive Democrats, the right wing junior partners in Ireland's coalition government) who told the TABD that Ireland and the EU would be 'a strong partner with the US in political, economic and security matters'. While the Irish republic has undoubtedly benefited from US foreign direct investment it is also clear that the vast majority of the electorate do not wish to partner with the neo-conservative Bush administration on political and security matters, a point obliquely acknowledged by a newly founded neo-liberal think tank in Ireland, the Freedom Institute, in a letter to the Irish Times on 26 June:
'As a member of a small proportion of Irish society that sees the inherent danger of radical Islam, I wish to convey the warmest welcome to the American President. Few people in the West are prepared to acknowledge the patently obvious threat to our (not just the American) way of life, though many Eastern European leaders are all too aware of the importance of liberty.
George Bush is a man of principle and relentless courage in the face of barbarity - both on American soil, and around the world. He is a man of deep faith, both in God and family. So many Europeans sneer at his, and most Americans', faith in God, yet we have much to learn in our increasingly amoral, anti-family welfare states. Self-sufficiency is the way forward, yet few in Europe's ageing population have the will to appreciate this.
Mr Bush believes, like too few other world leaders, that a person's success and wealth is something they deserve. His tax cuts (like Reagan's and John F. Kennedy's before him) have been an essential component in catalysing growth in the US economy - that economy on which we in Ireland greatly depend. His economic ideals are therefore not only morally sound, but pragmatically prudent.
We at the Freedom Institute - a new Irish organisation advocating free markets and limited government - welcome Mr Bush, and wish him well in November's election. - Yours, etc.,
John Lalor, (Freedom Institute Spokesman on Economics), Terenure, Dublin 6W'.
The Freedom Institute is a neo-liberal forum with links to the Atlas Economic Research Institute. Their mission is largely one of advocacy in public debate: 'In conjunction with many other think tanks throughout the world, we will not shy from our responsibility to create a safer, stronger, freer and more prosperous Ireland'. They ventilate the views of 'skeptical environmentalist' Bjorn Lomborg on global warming, advocate trade liberalisation (not aid or state intervention) and oppose socially progressive measures like the popular the ban on smoking in public places (perhaps the most significant piece of public health legislation to be enacted in the last 20 years in Ireland). The emergence of the Freedom Institute in Ireland parallels the 'spontaneous' growth of similar organisations throughout Europe, whose aims are to promote neo-liberal policies, particularly deregulation and trade liberalisation. That such groups and their aims are completely out of step with public opinion and popular sentiment makes their 'growth' all the more remarkable.
The disparities between the actions of the Irish political elite, neo-liberal think-tankers and the preferences of the majority of the Irish electorate is my abiding memory of the Bush visit to Ireland. The Irish governments disgraceful support of the White House's attack on RTE journalist Carol Coleman was not an encouraging signal to send about the diversity of opinion and criticism that is tolerable in 'polite' Irish society. That the Irish government were so exercised by the legitimate questioning of Bush by a seasoned political correspondent illustrates the distance between electors and elected during the Bush visit. In fact it was the general Irish public that were embarrassed by the antics of their political leaders in the presence of the U.S. President, who many thought should be indicted rather than invited. Added: December 13th 2004
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Related Link: Ireland's EU Presidency website
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