[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 48 (Thursday, March 25, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S3542]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          SENATOR KENNEDY AND THE AMERICAN IRELAND FUND AWARD

 Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, on March 16, the American Ireland 
Fund hosted a dinner to honor Senator Edward Kennedy and his 
longstanding efforts to promote peaceful and constructive change 
throughout Ireland. The individuals that gathered together that night--
Taoiseach Bertie Ahearn, Nobel Prize Winners John Hume and David 
Trimble, Sinn Fein Leader Gerry Adams, Secretary of State for Northern 
Ireland Mo Mowlan, among many others--are the best indication of the 
significant progress that has been made to replace violence and 
mistrust with cooperation and dialogue. It is also an indication of the 
Irish community's high esteem for Senator Kennedy and his key role in 
bringing the parties to the negotiating table. While differences still 
impede full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, pride in 
Ireland's past and present, and a strong commitment to a peaceful and 
prosperous future was the common bond that united all of those in 
attendance on the eve of Saint Patrick's Day.
  Mr. President, Senator Christopher Dodd was among those who 
introduced Senator Kennedy that night, and I ask that Senator Dodd's 
insightful remarks from the evening be printed in the Record.
  The remarks follow:

       Members of the clergy, leaders of Ireland--both north and 
     south--with a particularly warm welcome to the Taoiseach, 
     Bertie Ahern, my colleagues from Congress, members of the 
     diplomatic corps, members of the Kennedy family--Eunice 
     Kennedy Shriver, Ethel Kennedy, my colleague in the House of 
     Representatives, Patrick Kennedy, and a special welcome to 
     the former American Ambassador, Jean Kennedy Smith, and a 
     warm welcome to the light of our honoree's eyes, Vicki 
     Kennedy; distinguished guests and friends, and, while he is 
     not with us this evening, a particularly warm greeting to the 
     President of the United States, William Jefferson Clinton; 
     and, last but not least, our honoree, the recipient of the 
     National Leadership Award, my colleague and best friend in 
     the Senate, Ted Kennedy.
       At the outset, I want to commend the American Ireland Fund 
     for the marvelous work it has done on behalf of the people of 
     Ireland;
       Secondly, I want to pay a special tribute to the two most 
     recent recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize who are with us 
     this evening and ask you to join me in expressing our 
     admiration for the work that these two men have done for 
     peace in Northern Ireland and will continue to do--John Hume 
     and David Trimble.
       As we gather here tonight on the Eve of Saint Patrick's Day 
     to honor Ted Kennedy with the International Leadership Award, 
     I want to begin by recalling the ancient Kennedy/Fitzgerald 
     Gaelic Prayer:

     For you who are with us, may God turn your fortunes bright;
     For you who are against us, may God turn your hearts toward 
           us;
     And if God cannot turn your hearts, may He at least turn your 
           ankles,
     So we may know you by your limp!

       I have the unique pleasure of presenting to you tonight a 
     man with whom I have served in the United States Senate for 
     nearly twenty years.
       Most of you know the classic story of success in American 
     politics:
       Born of a poor and obscure family; deprived of all but the 
     barest necessities; forced to quit school to support the 
     family and finally overcoming all odds working his way 
     through College by waiting tables in the cafeteria.
       You know that story. So does Ted Kennedy. But he never let 
     it get in the way. He knew there was another way to do 
     things. And somehow even through he did none of those things, 
     he got elected to the Senate in 1962 when the previous 
     Senator changed his address. And for these past 37 years what 
     a record he has compiled.
       He was a friend of Ireland when friends of Ireland were 
     few. In fact, he--and his family--have presided so long and 
     so firmly at the confluence of Ireland and America that a 
     writer in the Irish Times recently observed that it was 
     sometimes difficult to tell whether Senator Kennedy's 
     distinguished sister was the United States' Ambassador to 
     Ireland or Ireland's Ambassador to the United States.
       There is a reason for this, and it's quite simple. 
     Throughout the adult lives of most people in this room, Ted 
     Kennedy has worked unremittingly, day in and day out, to 
     better the lot of the least fortunate of our fellow men and 
     women. Ted Kennedy's efforts regularly reach across the 
     borders of nation, race and religion.
       It was only natural, then, that the conflict and injustice 
     in Northern Ireland would make a claim on Senator Kennedy's 
     conscience. His unceasing interest in achieving peace in 
     Northern Ireland was, and is, the one constant over the many 
     ups and downs on the still fragile road to resolving that 
     conflict.
       Ted Kennedy's efforts to find the path to peace have not 
     been limited by the category of nationality. He labors not 
     only as a distinguished representative of the United States, 
     and a loyal son of Ireland, but as an ambassador from what 
     the Irish poet Seamus Heaney refers to as ``the Republic of 
     Conscience.''
       ``The Republic of Conscience'', according to Heaney's poem 
     of that name, is a quiet place, and one where you might meet 
     some of your ancestors. According to Heaney's narrator:

     When I landed in the Republic of Conscience;
     It was so noiseless when the engines stopped;
     I could hear a curlew high above the runway.
     At Immigration, the clerk was an old man;
     Who produced a wallet from his homespun coat;
     And showed me a photograph of my grandfather.

       When Heaney's narrator was leaving the republic, that old 
     man told him what all of us here tonight would tell Senator 
     Kennedy, namely that he is a ``dual citizen'' and, therefore, 
     on permanent assignment. Heaney's narrator put it this way: 
     The Republic of Conscience

     . . . Desired me when I got home;
     To consider myself a representative;
     And to speak on their behalf in my own tongue.
     Their embassies, he said, were everywhere;
     But operated independently;
     And no Ambassador would ever be relieved.

       Teddy, you will never be relieved of your portfolio to 
     speak on behalf of the ``Republic of Conscience'' for the 
     rights of those least able to speak for themselves, and to 
     continue your splendid work in furthering peace and 
     reconciliation in Ireland and in the United States.
       Reflecting on the way you have led so many of your 
     colleagues over so many years--many of whom are here 
     tonight--down the tortured path that must inevitably lead to 
     peace, I am reminded of the figure of the great Irish poet, 
     William Butler Yeats, standing amidst the portraits of his 
     contemporaries in the Dublin Municipal Gallery of Art, and 
     urging history to judge him not on this or that isolated deed 
     but to:

     Think where man's glory most begins and ends;
     And say my glory was I had such friends.

       I know that all of us here tonight are proud to say that it 
     is our glory to have you, Teddy, as our friend, and 
     unstinting friend of the United States, an unwavering friend 
     of Ireland, and an Ambassador from the ``Republic of 
     Conscience'' who will never be relieved.

                          ____________________