Northern Ireland

Under the leadership of then-Chairman William J. Flynn, the National Committee on American Foreign Policy directly contributed to the Peace Process in Northern Ireland. Besides convincing President Bill Clinton to pressure the State Department to grant a 48-hour visa to Gerry Adams (the president of Sinn Fein), the NCAFP committed itself to providing an ongoing forum for the parties to the deadly struggle in Northern Ireland (republicans and nationalists, loyalists and unionists) to resolve what the NCAFP maintained were not intractable but soluble problems.

The Committee fulfilled that commitment despite several shattered ceasefires and protracted and seemingly fruitless negotiations: the Northern Ireland Peace Initiative culminated in the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 and the establishment of the first power-sharing government in the North.

The organization remains active in Northern Ireland, and continues to convene political leaders from the region to tackle the most pressing challenges in the post-Brexit landscape. Most recently, the organization celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement at its daytime conference, Looking Back and Moving Forward.