May tells Irish-Americans she’ll uphold Good Friday agreement

British Prime Minister Theresa May has written to a group of prominent Irish-Americans underlining the British government's commitment to upholding the Good Friday agreement.

In a letter seen by The Irish Times, Mrs May highlighted the government’s commitment to the 1998 accord.

“The agreement, along with its successors, has been the bedrock of the significant progress that has been made in Northern Ireland over the past two decades,” she wrote. “No Government that I lead will ever take risks with the hard won relative peace and stability that these agreements have established.”

Her letter was a response to a letter written by more than forty representatives of the Irish community in the United States to Mrs May and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar last month in which they warned of the perils posed by Brexit to peace in Northern Ireland and the Good Friday agreement.

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Representatives of the group will meet Northern Ireland secretary Karen Bradley later this month when she visits Washington DC during the week of St Patrick's Day week. They also met with Britain's deputy ambassador to the United States this week in the US capital.

Speaking on Friday, James Walsh, the co-chair of the ad hoc committee of Irish Americans, established to highlight the concerns of Irish-America as Britain prepares to leave the European Union, said he welcomed the prime minister’s affirmation of the importance of the Good Friday agreement in the letter.

“As she notes in her letter the Good Friday agreement has been the ‘bedrock’ for peace and economic prosperity in Northern Ireland in the last 20 years,” he said. “We will work closely with the British and Irish governments and with our many friends in the US Congress to continue to sustain the Agreement.”

The development comes as the White House issued a statement on Friday celebrating Irish-American heritage month to mark the “indispensable contributions Irish Americans have made to every chapter of our Nation’s history”.

“Generations of Irish immigrants have carried to our shores character, culture, and values that continue to play pivotal roles in the strength and success of America,” the official White House statement said.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is due to travel to Washington to meet President Donald Trump later this month for the annual shamrock ceremony in the White House during a crucial week for Brexit as a series of votes are scheduled to take place in the House of Commons.

His visit will take place against a backdrop of heightened concern among Irish-Americans on Capitol Hill about the impact of Brexit on the Northern Ireland peace process. Some senior members of Congress have also said that no return to a hard border is a precondition for their support for a future US-UK trade agreement.