[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 75 (Tuesday, May 8, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5709-S5710]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT

  Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, today marks a historic moment for 
Northern

[[Page S5710]]

Ireland and for countless people in Ireland, Great Britain, the United 
States, and around the world who have prayed and hoped and worked for 
lasting peace.
  Today, the devolved Government of Northern Ireland stands up to 
govern peacefully and democratically. The commitment of everyone 
involved, their constructive negotiations, their sacrifice, and their 
faith led us to this day of a new government and renewed hope.
  I am proud of the role my husband and I were able to play in helping 
to bring about peace in Northern Ireland and to help make today 
possible.
  Of course, some doubted that lasting peace could be possible. So many 
had lived through decades of violence, hate, and ill will; so many had 
buried loved ones. So many were resigned to what had felt, for them, 
inevitable: their children and their children's children would suffer 
the same fate. Their children were destined to grow up, go to school, 
and start their own families in the shadow of history and hostility. In 
recent months and years hope was fading. But not for the people of 
Northern Ireland who have endured great hardships who said to their 
leaders, ``It is time for peace.''
  I remember in my visits to Northern Ireland meeting with women and 
men, leaders and citizens, who shared the same longing for peace, the 
same hopes for their children, and the same desire for a better future. 
It was this spirit that triumphed, that rose above the bad blood, that 
helped a people overcome a difficult legacy, to escape that shadow. It 
was this spirit that led to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 
1998. It is this spirit that we honor on a historic day.
  I remember when Bill, Chelsea, and I traveled to Ireland in 1996. It 
was an important trip for lasting peace, and it was a memorable trip 
for me personally--among the most special in my time in the White 
House. In Ireland, I met the Nobel prizewinning poet Seamus Heaney. His 
words would become the theme for our visit and for this moment in Irish 
history.

     History says, Don't hope
     On this side of the grave,
     But then, once in a lifetime
     The longed-for tidal wave
     Of justice can rise up
     And hope and history rhyme.

  For mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, and sons and daughters 
of Northern Ireland, history said to them ``don't hope.'' But they 
hoped.
  When we traveled through Ireland in 1996, I spent time with women 
working for peace. I was struck by so many who had suffered but did not 
suffer without hope; women who lost husbands and sons and loved ones 
but did not lose faith.
  I will always carry the memory of 65-year-old Joyce McCartan, a 
remarkable woman who founded the Women's Information Drop-in Center in 
1987 after her 17-year-old son was shot dead by Protestant gunman. She 
had lost more than a dozen family members to violence. Joyce and other 
women had set up the center as a safe house, a place for women of both 
religions to convene and talk over their needs and fears. I remember 
Joyce saying, ``It takes women to bring men to their senses.''
  I met with Joyce and several women sitting around a table who 
described over tea how worried they were when their sons and husbands 
left the house and relieved when they arrived safely home. When I left 
our meeting, Joyce gave me a teapot to remember them by. Joyce died 
before having the chance to see the Good Friday Agreement and before 
this historic day. But when I spoke at the first memorial lecture in 
her honor in 1997 in Belfast, I brought with me that teapot. I put the 
teapot on the podium and spoke of the courage of Irish women like Joyce 
who, at kitchen tables and over pots of tea, helped chart a path to 
peace. She helped make lasting peace possible; she helped write the 
song in which hope and history could rhyme. I still fill with emotion 
whenever I see that teapot or think about her.
  I hope we can continue to draw inspiration from these stories of 
courage. There are countless people like Joyce whose names we will 
never know who helped make this day possible.
  I also want to commend the political parties. Many people have 
suffered deep losses and the healing process will continue far into the 
future. I praise everyone involved, especially Prime Minister Blair and 
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who stayed strong when it seemed hope was 
fading. I know that the Catholic and Protestant leaders who have been 
working to see this day become reality are grateful for a bright and 
prosperous Northern Ireland.
  During my last visit to Northern Ireland and Ireland I had the 
pleasure of seeing familiar faces and to visit with party leaders who I 
know all wanted a new day and a new beginning. And I commend political 
leaders like Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein, the Reverend Ian Paisley of the 
DUP, and all the others past and present who have worked hard.
  I also want to remember the efforts of people like Senator George 
Mitchell, John Hume, David Trimble, Martin McGuinness, David Ervine 
Seamus Mallon and Mo Mowlam; people involved so deeply in the 
negotiations leading up to the 1998 agreement. The sacrifices and 
compromises made back then formed the basis of today's devolved 
government.
  So many worked so hard and sacrificed so much over the past years and 
I think we must acknowledge everyone for their work and their endurance 
in traveling the long and difficult road to reach today's milestone.
  I want to commend my colleagues here in the Senate and across the 
Rotunda in the House, people like Senators Ted Kennedy, Chris Dodd, and 
Patrick Leahy; Congressmen Richie Neal, Joe Crowley, Jim Walsh, Peter 
King, Brian Higgins. I want to commend everyone who labored to show the 
support of the American people and the Congress. Thank you for your 
leadership.
  I have been proud to work among civic and business leaders on a 
variety of cross-border, cross-community efforts designed to spread the 
prosperity that is possible when people work together. I am grateful 
for the business leaders who have been strong partners in furthering 
the peace process and for the contributions they make to society in 
spurring job growth, economic investment, and trade throughout Ireland 
and beyond.
  What has happened--and what is happening--in Northern Ireland should 
serve as a model for peace and reconciliation in our world and I 
believe people will look back upon these times and realize how truly 
great the accomplishment is for humanity.
  I also want to recognize the Irish and Scots-Irish Americans who 
helped make the United States what it is today. Not only does today 
mark a victory for the people of Northern Ireland, today also marks the 
62nd anniversary of Victory in Europe, which helped usher in peace and 
prosperity across Europe and the world.
  The movement toward lasting peace in Northern Ireland is a model for 
how we, as a nation, can engage the rest of the world. But the progress 
we are commemorating today represents a larger note of hope: peace is 
possible.
  I want to honor the leaders who now assume great responsibility to 
govern, heal and lead Northern Ireland into a new era. America must 
always stand with those working on behalf of Northern Ireland, and all 
people working and longing for a brighter, peaceful, more hopeful 
future.

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