[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 46 (Tuesday, March 17, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3157-S3158]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          NOMINATION OF DAN ROONEY TO BE AMBASSADOR OF IRELAND

  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I want to speak about a very happy and 
positive topic, something that is close to my heart but I think also 
close to the heart of a lot of Americans. Today, we have the double 
benefit of it being not only St. Patrick's day, but in my case, as a 
Pennsylvanian and one of Irish descent, I had the great news announced 
today by the President of the United States that Dan Rooney--from the 
great Rooney family of Pittsburgh, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers and 
a great friend of the people of Ireland, who has been active in the 
peace process, as has his family for a generation or more with their 
time, their effort, their money, and their wisdom--has been nominated 
to be Ambassador to Ireland. He is a Pittsburgher and a Pennsylvanian, 
and we are so very proud today to be able to report that for those who 
haven't yet heard the news. I will work, as a member of the Committee 
on Foreign Relations, to get him confirmed because we should confirm 
him.
  Dan Rooney is well known as the owner of the Steelers, the Super Bowl 
champs several times over in the last generation, and that is wonderful 
that he is, but he is a son of Pittsburgh, a very humble man, a very 
decent, kind, caring, and compassionate man, someone who has the kind 
of integrity and the kind of commitment to service you would want in an 
ambassador to any country but especially one such as Ireland. 
Pennsylvania has a pretty significant percentage of its population that 
traces its ancestry to that small island, and across the ages we have 
been proud of that connection, that affinity we have for the people of 
Ireland. In this case, if all goes as it should with the confirmation--
and I am sure it will--we will have a son of Pittsburgh, a son of 
Pennsylvania, a resident of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania serving as 
Ambassador to Ireland.
  Dan is someone who not only has the character and integrity and 
commitment to his country, and his concern about the Irish people, but 
he is also someone who has broad experience in running a major 
organization and motivating people to meet goals. There is so much that 
our country can do together with the people of Ireland. That country 
will see, if they do not already know, what we have always seen in the 
character and the decency and the strength and experience of Dan 
Rooney. So we are very proud today that President Obama made that 
announcement, especially for someone who has the kind of character and 
commitment to public service that Dan Rooney has.
  One final note about the celebration today of St. Patrick's Day. 
There are a lot of reasons to celebrate, even in the context of some of 
the recent violence in Ireland. There are more reasons than not to 
celebrate the enduring peace of Ireland, even in the midst of that 
setback, even in the midst of that violence. We have a lot to be 
thankful for, those of us who care about that kind of peace--one of the 
longest conflicts in the history of the world brought to resolution 
back in the 1990s. George Mitchell and the Clinton administration 
worked very hard on this, and I know the Obama administration will be 
equally committed to making sure that peace endures.
  As we are thinking today about Ireland and thinking about St. 
Patrick's Day and thinking about the bond between our two countries--
and earlier today I heard Senator Durbin speak of the senior Senator 
from Massachusetts, Mr. Kennedy, for a whole variety of reasons--I 
think of Ted Kennedy as someone who spent a lot of his time in the 
Senate working on peace issues the world over but in particular working 
on the peace process in Northern Ireland. Over his lifetime of service 
in the

[[Page S3158]]

Senate, he is someone who has given meaning to the values we cherish on 
a day like today--values of service, the value of peace over war, the 
value of integrity, and the value of trying to love one another the 
best we can.
  Ted Kennedy has a long connection not just with the peace process and 
not just with the people of Ireland and his heritage, but his family 
has had a long connection with my home State of Pennsylvania--and not 
just on St. Patrick's Day but on a lot of other days. In fact, one of 
the reasons I highlighted Senator Kennedy and am thinking of him 
tonight is because of all the work he has done on health care, on civil 
rights, on education, as well as issues as important as the peace 
process in Ireland.
  I am also thinking of him tonight because of the Friendly Sons of St. 
Patrick of Lackawanna County, which has had many storied speakers, but 
one of the greatest speeches given at that dinner--really in the 
history of the American Irish--was given by then-Senator Robert Frances 
Kennedy of New York in 1964. So we are thinking tonight of the 
inspiration Senator Robert Kennedy provided to the American people, to 
the people of the State he served, New York, and to people across the 
country in his Presidential campaign in 1968 before his tragic 
assassination.
  In a special way, I am thinking of the speech he gave not long 
after--literally just a few months after his brother, President 
Kennedy, was killed. I had the occasion a little more than a year ago 
to give an audio recording of that to Senator Ted Kennedy. I know he 
had heard of the speech and maybe even heard the actual recording, but 
I wanted to make sure he had a CD of that speech.
  So we are thinking of him tonight and thinking of his family and the 
great sacrifice the Kennedy family has made for the American people; 
one as President, two in the Senate, and one of them in the Senate who 
served as Attorney General. That is just a highlight of the kind of 
service they have provided.
  So on this St. Patrick's Day, we cherish the memory of so many things 
that are Irish, but we are also whispering a silent prayer for our 
country, whispering a prayer for the people of Ireland and for those 
who made this peace possible, people such as Ted Kennedy and George 
Mitchell, and others who worked so hard.
  In this very special way today, I am grateful for the chance to be 
able to stand on the floor of the Senate and say that a friend of mine, 
a friend of Pennsylvania, and a proud son of Pittsburgh has been 
nominated by President Obama to be Ambassador to Ireland. That friend 
is Dan Rooney.
  So congratulations, Dan. We are thinking of you and your family 
tonight as we celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

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