[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 193 (Wednesday, December 6, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S18090-S18092]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  PRESIDENT CLINTON'S VISIT TO ENGLAND, NORTHERN IRELAND, AND IRELAND

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I join Senator Kennedy in congratulating 
President Clinton on his successful trip to the United Kingdom and 
Ireland. Although I was not able to accept the President's invitation 
to accompany him on that historic visit due to other commitments I had 
in Vermont, like millions of Americans I followed his travels closely 
in the press. One of the most memorable events was the President's 
speech to the workers at the Mackie Metal Plant in Belfast.
  Mackie's is located on the Peace Line which has historically divided 
Catholics from Protestants. People from both communities come together 
at Mackie's to an integrated work force where they work side by side. 
At Mackie's, President Clinton spoke of those who helped bring about 
the peace process--the political leaders, and more importantly, the 
people of Northern Ireland ``who have shown the world in concrete ways 
that here the will for peace is now stronger than the weapons for 
war.''
  The President called for an end to punishment beatings as well as for 
the full participation in the democratic process of those who have 
renounced violence. He said that the United States will stand with 
those who take risks for peace. The President spoke for all of us that 
day and I ask unanimous consent that his remarks be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the speech was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

Remarks by the President to Employees and Community of the Mackie Metal 
                                 Plant

               [Belfast, Northern Ireland, Nov. 30, 1995]

       This is one of those occasions where I really feel that all 
     that needs to be said has already been said. I thank 
     Catherine and David for introducing me, for all the school 
     children of Northern Ireland who are here today, and for all 
     whom they represent. A big part of peace is children growing 
     up safely, learning together and growing together.
       I thank Patrick Dougan and Ronnie Lewis for their remarks, 
     for their work here, for all the members of the Mackie team 
     who are with us today in welcoming us to this factory. I was 
     hoping we could have an event like this in Northern Ireland 
     at a place where people work and reach out to the rest of the 
     world in a positive way, because a big part of peace is 
     working together for family and community and for the welfare 
     of the common enterprise.
       It is good to be among the people of Northern Ireland who 
     have given so much to America and the world, and good to be 
     here with such a large delegation of my fellow Americans, 
     including, of course, my wife, and I see the Secretary of 
     Commerce here and the Ambassador to Great Britain, and a 
     number of others. But we have quite a large delegation from 
     both parties in the United States Congress, so we've sort of 
     got a truce of our own going on here today. (Laughter.)
       And I'd like to ask the members of Congress who have come 
     all the way from Washington, D.C. to stand up and be 
     recognized. Would you all stand? (Applause.)
       Many of you perhaps know that one in four of America's 
     Presidents trace their roots to Ireland's shores, beginning 
     with Andrew Jackson, the son of immigrants from 
     Carrickfergus, to John Fitzgerald Kennedy whose forebears 
     came from County Wexford. I know I am only the latest in this 
     time-honored tradition, but I'm proud to be the first sitting 
     American President to make it back to Belfast. (Applause.)
       At this holiday season all around the world, the promise of 
     peace is in the air. The barriers of the Cold War are giving 
     way to a global village where communication and cooperation 
     are the order of the day. From South Africa to the Middle 
     East, and now to troubled Bosnia, conflicts long thought 
     impossible to solve are moving along the road to resolution. 
     Once-bitter foes are clasping hands and changing history. And 
     long-suffering people are moving closer to normal lives.
       Here in Northern Ireland, you are making a miracle--a 
     miracle symbolized by those two children who held hands and 
     told us what this whole thing is all about. In the land of 
     the harp and the fiddle, the fife and the lambeg drum, two 
     proud traditions are coming together in the harmonies of 
     peace. The cease-fire and negotiations have sparked a 
     powerful transformation. 
     
[[Page S 18091]]

       Mackie's Plant is a symbol of Northern Ireland's rebirth. 
     It has long been a symbol of world-class engineering. The 
     textile machines you make permit people to weave disparate 
     threads into remarkable fabrics. That is now what you must do 
     here with the people of Northern Ireland.
       Here we lie along the peace line, the wall of steel and 
     stone separating Protestant from Catholic. But today, under 
     the leadership of Pat Dougan, you are bridging the divide, 
     overcoming a legacy of discrimination where fair employment 
     and integration are the watchwords of the future.
       On this shop floor men and women of both traditions are 
     working together to achieve common goals. Peace, once a 
     distant dream, is now making a difference in everyday life in 
     this land. Soldiers have left the streets of Belfast; many 
     have gone home. People can go to the pub or the store without 
     the burden of the search or the threat of a bomb. As barriers 
     disappear along the border, families and communities divided 
     for decades are becoming whole once more.
       This year in Armagh on St. Patrick's Day, Protestant and 
     Catholic children led the parade together for the first time 
     since The Troubles began. A bystander's words marked the 
     wonder of the occasion when he said, ``Even the normal is 
     beginning to seem normal.''
       The economic rewards of peace are evident as well. 
     Unemployment has fallen here to its lowest level in 14 years, 
     while retail sales and investment are surging. Far from the 
     gleaming city center, to the new shop fronts of Belfast, to 
     the Enterprise Center in East Belfast, business is thriving 
     and opportunities are expanding. With every extra day that 
     the guns are still, business confidence grows stronger and 
     the promise of prosperity grows as well.
       As the shroud of terror melts away, Northern Ireland's 
     beauty has been revealed again to all the world--the castles 
     and coasts, the Giants Causeway, the lush green hills, the 
     high white cliffs--a magical backdrop to your greatest asset 
     which I saw all along the way from the airport here today, 
     the warmth and good feeling of your people. Visitors are now 
     coming in record numbers. Indeed, today, the air route 
     between Belfast and London is the second busiest in all of 
     Europe.
       I want to honor those whose courage and vision have brought 
     us to this point: Prime Minister Major, Prime Minister 
     Bruton, and before him, Prime Minister Reynolds, laid the 
     background and the basis for this era of reconciliation. From 
     the Downing Street Declaration to the joint framework 
     document, they altered the course of history. Now, just in 
     the last few days, by launching the twin-track initiative, 
     they have opened a promising new gateway to a just and 
     lasting peace. Foreign Minister Spring, Sir Patrick Mayhew, 
     David Trimble and John Hume all have labored to realize the 
     promise of peace. And Gerry Adams, along with Loyalist 
     leaders such as David Irvine and Gary McMichael, helped to 
     silence the guns on the streets and to bring about the first 
     peace in a generation.
       But most of all, America salutes all the people of Northern 
     Ireland who have shown the world in concrete ways that here 
     the will for peace is now stronger than the weapons of war. 
     With mixed sporting events encouraging competition on the 
     playing field, not the battlefield; with women's support 
     groups, literacy programs, job training centers that served 
     both communities--these and countless other initiatives 
     bolster the foundations of peace as well.
       Last year's cease-fire of the Irish Republican Army, joined 
     by the combined Loyalist Military Command, marked a turning 
     point in the history of Northern Ireland. Now is the time to 
     sustain that momentum and lock in the gains of peace. Neither 
     community wants to go back to the violence of the past. The 
     children told of that today. Both parties must do their part 
     to move this process forward now.
       Let me begin by saying that the search for common ground 
     demands the courage of an open mind. This twin-track 
     initiative gives the parties a chance to begin preliminary 
     talks in ways in which all views will be represented and all 
     voices will be heard. It also establishes an international 
     body to address the issue of arms decommissioning. I hope the 
     parties will seize this opportunity. Engaging in honest 
     dialogue is not an act of surrender, it is an act of strength 
     and common sense. (Applause.)
       Moving from cease-fire to peace requires dialogue. For 25 
     years now the history of Northern Ireland has been written in 
     the blood of its children and their parents. The cease-fire 
     turned the page on that history; it must not be allowed to 
     turn back. (Applause.)
       There must also be progress away from the negotiating 
     table. Violence has lessened, but it has not disappeared. The 
     leaders of the four main churches recently condemned the so-
     called punishment beatings and called for an end to such 
     attacks. I add my voice to theirs. (Applause.)
       As the church leaders said, this is a time when the utmost 
     efforts on all sides are needed to build a peaceful and 
     confident community in the future. But true peace requires 
     more than a treaty, even more than the absence of violence. 
     Those who have suffered most in the fighting must share 
     fairly in the fruits of renewal. The frustration that gave 
     rise to violence must give way to faith in the future.
       The United States will help to secure the tangible benefits 
     of peace. Ours is the first American administration ever to 
     support in the Congress the International Fund for Ireland, 
     which has become an engine for economic development and for 
     reconciliation. We will continue to encourage trade and 
     investment and to help end the cycle of unemployment.
       We are proud to support Northern Ireland. You have given 
     America a very great deal. Irish Protestant and Irish 
     Catholic together have added to America's strength. From our 
     battle for independence down to the present day, the Irish 
     have not only fought in our wars, they have built our nation, 
     and we owe you a very great debt. (Applause.)
       Let me say that of all the gifts we can offer in return, 
     perhaps the most enduring and the most precious is the 
     example of what is possible when people find unity and 
     strength in their diversity. We know from our own experience 
     even today how hard that is to do. After all, we fought a 
     great Civil War over the issue of race and slavery in which 
     hundreds of thousands of our people were killed.
       Today, in one of our counties alone, in Los Angeles, there 
     are over 150 different ethnic and racial groups represented. 
     We know we can become stronger if we bridge our differences. 
     But we learned in our own Civil War that that has to begin 
     with a change of the heart.
       I grew up in the American South, in one of the states that 
     tried to break from the American Union. My forebears on my 
     father's side were soldiers in the Confederate Army. I was 
     reading the other day a book about our first governor after 
     the Civil War who fought for the Union Army, and who lost 
     members of his own family. They lived the experience so many 
     of you have lived. When this governor took office and looked 
     out over a sea of his fellow citizens who fought on the other 
     side, he said these words: ``We have all done wrong. No one 
     can say his heart is altogether clean and his hands 
     altogether pure. Thus, as we wish to be forgiven, let us 
     forgive those who have sinned against us and ours.'' That was 
     the beginning of America's reconciliation, and it must be the 
     beginning of Northern Ireland's reconciliation. (Applause.)
       It is so much easier to believe that our differences matter 
     more than what we have in common. It is easier, but it is 
     wrong. We all cherish family and faith, work and community. 
     We all strive to live lives that are free and honest and 
     responsible. We all want our children to grow up in a world 
     where their talents are matched by their opportunities. And I 
     believe those values are just as strong in County Londonderry 
     as they are in Londonderry, New Hampshire; in Belfast, 
     Northern Ireland as in Belfast, Maine.
       I am proud to be of Ulster Scots stock. I am proud to be, 
     also, of Irish stock. I share these roots with millions and 
     millions of Americans, now over 40 million Americans. And we 
     rejoice at things being various, as Louis MacNeice once 
     wrote. It is one of the things that makes America special.
       Because our greatness flows from the wealth of our 
     diversity as well as the strength of the ideals we share in 
     common, we feel bound to support others around the world who 
     seek to bridge their own divides. This is an important part 
     of our country's mission on the eve of the 21st century, 
     because we know that the chain of peace that protects us 
     grows stronger with every new link that is forged.
       For the first time in half a century now, we can put our 
     children to bed at night knowing that the nuclear weapons of 
     the former Soviet Union are no longer pointed at those 
     children. In South Africa, the long night of apartheid has 
     given way to a new freedom for all peoples. In the Middle 
     East, Arabs and Israelis are stepping beyond war to peace in 
     an area where many believed peace would never come. In Haiti, 
     a brutal dictatorship has given way to a fragile new 
     democracy. In Europe, the dream of a stable, undivided free 
     continent seems finally within reach as the people of Bosnia 
     have the first real hope for peace since the terrible 
     fighting began there nearly four years ago.
       The United States looks forward to working with our allies 
     here in Europe and others to help the people in Bosnia--the 
     Muslims, the Croats, the Serbs--to move beyond their 
     divisions and their destructions to make the peace agreement 
     they have made a reality in the lives of their people.
       Those who work for peace have got to support one another. 
     We know that when leaders stand up for peace, they place 
     their forces on the line, and sometimes their very lives on 
     the line, as we learned so recently in the tragic murder of 
     the brave Prime Minister of Israel. For, just as peace has 
     its pioneers, peace will always have its rivals. Even when 
     children stand up and say what these children said today, 
     there will always be people who, deep down inside, will never 
     be able to give up the past.
       Over the last three years I have had the privilege of 
     meeting with and closely listening to both Nationalists and 
     Unionists from Northern Ireland, and I believe that the 
     greatest struggle you face now is not between opposing ideas 
     or opposing interests. The greatest struggle you face is 
     between those who, deep down inside, are inclined to be 
     peacemakers, and those who, deep down inside, cannot yet 
     embrace the cause of peace. Between those who are in the ship 
     of peace and those who are trying to sink it, old habits die 
     hard. There will always be those who define the worth of 
     their lives not by who they are, but by who they aren't; not 

[[Page S 18092]]
     by what they're for, but by what they are against. They will never 
     escape the dead-end street of violence. But you, the vast 
     majority, Protestant and Catholic alike, must not allow the 
     ship of peace to sink on the rocks of old habits and hard 
     grudges. (Applause.)
       You must stand firm against terror. You must say to those 
     who still would use violence for political objectives--you 
     are the past; your day is over. Violence has no place at the 
     table of democracy, and no role in the future of this land. 
     By the same token, you must also be willing to say to those 
     who renounce violence and who do take their own risks for 
     peace that they are entitled to be full participants in the 
     democratic process. Those who show the courage--(applause)--
     those who do show the courage to break with the past are 
     entitled to their stake in the future.
       As leaders for peace become invested in the process, as 
     leaders make compromises and risk the backlash, people begin 
     more and more--I have seen this all over the world--they 
     begin more and more to develop a common interest in each 
     other's success; in standing together rather than standing 
     apart. They realize that the sooner they get to true peace, 
     with all the rewards it brings, the sooner it will be easy to 
     discredit and destroy the forces of destruction.
       We will stand with those who take risks for peace, in 
     Northern Ireland and around the world. I pledge that we will 
     do all we can, through the International Fund for Ireland and 
     in many other ways, to ease your load. If you walk down this 
     path continually, you will not walk alone. We are entering an 
     era of possibility unparalleled in all of human history. If 
     you enter that era determined to build a new age of peace, 
     the United States of America will proudly stand with you. 
     (Applause.)
       But at the end of the day, as with all free people, your 
     future is for you to decide. Your destiny is for you to 
     determine. Only you can decide between division and unity, 
     between hard lives and high hopes. Only you can create a 
     lasting peace. It takes courage to let go of familiar 
     divisions. It takes faith to walk down a new road. But when 
     we see the bright gaze of these children, we know the risk is 
     worth the reward.
       I have been so touched by the thousands of letters I have 
     received from schoolchildren here, telling me what peace 
     means to them. One young girl from Ballymena wrote--and I 
     quote--``It is not easy to forgive and forget, especially for 
     those who have lost a family member or a close friend. 
     However, if people could look to the future with hope instead 
     of the past with fear, we can only be moving in the right 
     direction.'' I couldn't have said it nearly as well.
       I believe you can summon the strength to keep moving 
     forward. After all, you have come so far already. You have 
     braved so many dangers, you have endured so many sacrifices. 
     Surely, there can be no turning back. But peace must be waged 
     with a warrior's resolve--bravely, proudly, and 
     relentlessly--secure in the knowledge of the single, greatest 
     difference between war and peace: In peace, everybody can 
     win. (Applause.)
       I was overcome today when I landed in my plane and I drove 
     with Hillary up the highway to come here by the phenomenal 
     beauty of the place and the spirit and the goodwill of the 
     people. Northern Ireland has a chance not only to begin anew, 
     but to be a real inspiration to the rest of the world, a 
     model of progress through tolerance.
       Let us join our efforts together as never before to make 
     that dream a reality. Let us join our prayers in this season 
     of peace for a future of peace in this good land.
       Thank you very much. (Applause.)

                          ____________________