[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 67 (Friday, May 22, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E943]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     NORTHERN IRELAND PEACE TREATY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN P. MURTHA

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 21, 1998

  Mr. MURTHA. Mr. Speaker, I would like to share with my Colleagues the 
following excerpts from an interview with the new President of Ireland, 
Mary McAleese. In her poignant description of President Clinton's visit 
to Northern Ireland in 1995 and his consummate diplomacy in that 
extremely delicate political environment, she notes how grateful the 
people of Ireland are to the President for his commitment and effort 
toward bringing about a peace treaty in Northern Ireland. I felt it 
should be brought to your attention. The interview, with reporter Niall 
O'Dowd, appeared in the May/June 1998 edition of Irish America 
Magazine.

       Irish America: You met President Clinton during his visit 
     to Northern Ireland in 1995. What were your impressions of 
     him then and now?
       On the day that he came to Northern Ireland, I don't think 
     there is any doubt that the Unionists, for instance, were 
     very skeptical. And you know as well as I do the minefield 
     that is Northern Ireland. If you use the word Derry instead 
     of Londonderry, or Londonderry instead of Derry, everyone is 
     exercised. The opportunities to make a mess are total. For a 
     president to come, and speak off the cuff as he did was 
     amazing. He spoke flawlessly. He did not put one single foot 
     wrong. He didn't get one inflection wrong, he didn't get one 
     name wrong. I was absolutely mesmerized by his sheer 
     intellect--the man is incredibly clever.
       I don't know a politician on this planet who has the 
     intellect, the depth, the charismatic skills of this man. He 
     is extraordinary.
       What he did that day was a miracle, because there was a lot 
     of Unionist skepticism about him, a lot of determination that 
     no matter how good this party got, they weren't going to 
     enjoy it. And yet they did. Over the twenty-four hour period, 
     he effectively seduced them. He won them over.
       He and his wife worked a miracle that day. I just want 
     people to know how very grateful we are for this president 
     who is so committed. He has been a large part of the 
     scaffolding that is holding up this kind of precarious 
     edifice of peace.* * *
       We are very grateful to the ongoing American commitment to 
     Ireland in all its aspects because we are on the way to 
     achieving phenomenal success. As a small island off the west 
     of Europe, it is desperately important to us that we have 
     friendships that open a window onto an entirely different 
     world to ours. It helps us to blossom and grow. I want to be 
     able to celebrate, and thank people for that and develop a 
     sense of the global Irish family.

     

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