[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 6 (Tuesday, February 1, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S197-S198]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            NORTHERN IRELAND

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I don't pretend to know all the history or 
intricacies of the effort to bring about peace in Northern Ireland, 
notwithstanding the number of visits I have made there, notwithstanding 
the historic ties to that island that I have through my father's 
family, or even with the work I have done with our distinguished former 
colleague, George Mitchell, a man who deserves the highest credit for 
his tireless efforts towards peace in Northern Ireland. But I have met 
with those who are key figures in Ireland: David Trimble from the 
loyalists side; Seamus Mallon, Gerry Adams, and another key figure, 
John Hume. Mr. Trimble and Mr. Hume shared the Nobel Peace Prize for 
the work they did, and deservedly so.
  I was one of those in the Senate who urged, near the beginning of 
President Clinton's term in office, to give a visa to Gerry Adams, the 
head of Sinn Fein and the one most visibly connected in this country 
with the IRA. I recall the State Department and the Justice Department 
being opposed to that visa, and the President courageously saying we 
are going to give him a visa. I think most people now accept the fact 
that because the President overrode the qualms of his own State 
Department and Justice Department in giving that visa, that we moved 
forward on peace for the first time.

[[Page S198]]

  For people who have always looked at each other through distrust and 
hatred--many times because of killings on both sides, killings of 
Catholics by Protestants and Protestants by Catholics, apparently all 
in the name of the greater good--they have come far and put together a 
government in Northern Ireland, which can start to govern itself. Men 
and women of good will on both sides of this issue--men and women who a 
few years ago would never speak to each other--have come together.

  This was recently disturbed by articles in the press indicated that 
the IRA still refuses to turn over any of their weapons. Ironically 
enough, this is at a time when the Republic of Ireland and authorities 
in Northern Ireland continue to find and destroy caches of weapons 
belonging to the IRA. I don't know what kind of stubborn humility or 
holding of ancient grudges would not allow the IRA to make this move. I 
brook no favor for those on either side who have been involved in 
atrocities because whether it is from the Ulster side or from the IRA 
side, there are atrocities aplenty--innocent people killed because of 
their religion, because of their allegiance.
  In many ways, I want to say a pox on both your houses. But that only 
means that generations from now the fighting will continue over things 
that gain nothing for anybody, feuds of hundreds of years, and memories 
sometimes of just a few years. It is time, in a new century, to stop 
the killings, to finally allow Northern Ireland, this beautiful land, 
to move forward and join the rest of the island in the new economic 
prosperity--but in peace.
  As a group of mothers, Catholic and Protestant, told me once--
together--they agreed with my speech of the night before in which I had 
said in Belfast--or just outside of Belfast--that I condemn violence 
from either side. They said how much they agreed, and what they wanted 
was for their children to be able to go to school and be educated, to 
live in peace, to walk down the street without worrying about being 
shot. What mother would want otherwise?
  Frankly, those in Sinn Fein who have called on their friends here in 
the Congress to help them with visas, to help them move forward, best 
help themselves because it would be tragedy compounded on tragedy if 
after all these years of seeking peace, after all the work of people 
such as John Hume and George Mitchell, David Trimble, and Gerry Adams--
people who might not want their names put in the same sentence--after 
all their work, what a tragedy it would be if one party, one piece of 
this puzzle opted out by not at least doing the first necessary steps 
to build confidence; that is, give over their weapons.
  (Mr. GORTON assumed the Chair.)

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