The publisher of the Irish Vo i ce newspaper, Niall O'Dowd, and the president of the County Cork Association of New York, Patrick Hurley, have been openly scathing about each other.

For legal reasons, not all of the exchanges can be reprinted, but O'Dowd has accused Hurley of dragging the names of members of the Cork Association "through the mud", while Hurley has dismissed O'Dowd as a "sycophantic apparatchik of the left-wing limousine elite".

Hurley . . . a prominent republican in New York who headed the Irish Immigration Reform Movement which was active in the late 1980s . . . is sharply critical of the tactics of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR), the new group chaired by O'Dowd. He claims it is "blowing the Green card game for the Irish", and is particularly angry at what he claims are attempts to embarrass powerful IrishAmerican Republican congressman Peter King.

Arguing that the ILIR has now completely alienated King, other friends in Congress and the Irish-American community, Hurley says that it has failed to grasp the mood of the US post the 11 September terrorist attacks.

He says Irish-Americans have a difficulty that the undocumented Irish, "on one hand, zealously propose themselves as potentially loyal American citizens, but, on the other, actively oppose legislation which would implement commonsensical security measures and institute rationalism in our immigration system."

Hurley says there is no such thing as a generic immigrant group and that privately many conservative legislators will say that the undocumented Irish are not controversial. "They are few in numbers . . . more like 5,000 (if even that) than 50,000 . . .

speak English, are well educated and skilled, are producers not beneficiaries, and assimilate effortlessly." Referring to the possibility of the provision of an annual quota of 5,000 immigrant visas for Ireland . . . which Hurley says was being considered in "Irish GOP/conservative circles" . . . he says: "Thanks to the antics of the ILIR in attracting the unwanted harsh glare of publicity, and in alienating our friends in Congress, this window of opportunity is probably now firmly closed."

Hurley said the "less charitable explanation" for the ILIR's conduct is that it is "an enthusiastic element in the extreme left's design to obliterate the Judeo Christian, Anglo Saxon culture of the US".

However, O'Dowd counters that Hurley has a personal vendetta against the ILIR and that he is "disgracing an age-old Irish institution, the Cork Association of New York", and should be removed as its president.

Dismissing Hurley's suggestions of alternative agendas, O'Dowd stresses the ILIR's sole purpose is to legalise the undocumented . . .

"no more, no less". "ILIR's problem, apparently, is that it has joined with immigration groups from Hispanic backgrounds to try and push an immigration bill through Congress, " he says.

O'Dowd says that the Cork Association has a long and honourable relationship with the Irish government. "It seems unthinkable that they are allowing a non-Cork or non-Irish native [Hurley was born in New Zealand but grew up in Cork] to make such vicious allegations against an Irish government that is doing their level best for their citizenry."

The high-profile publisher also accused Hurley of turning the Irish Immigration Reform Movement into a personal lobby. O'Dowd implied that Hurley's interest in that movement was personal and "for his very own visa", as he did not qualify for a Morrison/Donnelly visa at the time. He says that "having got his own sweet deal in 1990 when he was in need", Hurley is "pulling up the ladder" behind him.