It has always been bipartisan in makeup and activity. At the time the committee was established. we announced that our goals were threefold in nature: First. we sought congressional hearings on Northern Ireland. Second. we sought to change the State Departments visa policy which served to exclude legitimate segments of Irish political thought from entering our Nation. and Third. we sought to give the President a broader perspective on the Irish question. Now 4 years later. we have made strides in achieving each of our objectives. In the most general sense. the ad hoc committee has raised the Irish issue from a position of obscurity to one which now regularly commands national and international attention.