Rich Neal: “House Resolution 547, Mr. Speaker, simply urges the British Government to fully implement the Patten recommendations on…”

“House Resolution 547, Mr. Speaker, simply urges the British Government to fully implement the Patten recommendations on police reform in the North of Ireland. The people on the island of Ireland support the Patten recommendations, not the Mandelson recommendations. Let me give you a little bit of background, if I can, on this issue. Probably one of the most difficult problems that has confronted the people in the North of Ireland for the better part of the previous century was the issue of policing in a small state the size essentially of what we would know as Connecticut. But on May 21, 1998, the vast majority of the people of the island of Ireland voted for what we know as the Good Friday Agreement. In unprecedented numbers, they said yes to the future, a future that would include justice, and a future that would include reconciliation between the two traditions that have resided on that island.”