Patrick Leahy: “I want to discuss the most recent situation in Northern Ireland. All too often, I usually speak on the floor of the…”

“I want to discuss the most recent situation in Northern Ireland. All too often, I usually speak on the floor of the Senate about this issue after a bombing or bloody conflict between Republicans and Unionists. This time, however, I wish to address a situation that really has the potential to scar Northern Ireland more than any single bullet. We have seen in our own country schoolchildren returning to classes this week. In Northern Ireland, schoolchildren are returning also. But, unfortunately, the week has been horrific for students at the Holy Cross Girls Primary School in Belfast. The students and their parents have faced a gauntlet of protesters on their way to school, many of whom pelted the girls with stones and spit at them. Earlier today, a bomb went off addressed toward the schoolchildren. When I turn on the television and see pictures of these little girls, 6 and 7, 8 years old, crying in terror, being shielded by their mothers-- what is their crime and sin? They are going to school. If there is ever anything that can help that troubled part of the world, it would be to improve the education of the young people and then allow them to go on to get jobs. According to the press reports, the girls who attend this Catholic school have walked peacefully to and from their classes through a predominantly Protestant neighborhood for 30 years. Tragically, these children have been targeted to escalate already high tensions between Unionists and Republicans.”