[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 19]
[Senate]
[Pages 27049-27050]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

                    HONORING THE LIFE OF JACK LYNCH

 Mr. DODD. Mr. President, earlier today, I learned of the 
passing of Jack Lynch, the former Prime Minister of Ireland. I was 
deeply saddened to hear of Prime Minister Lynch's passing and would 
like to reflect for just a few moments on his life and enormous 
contributions to peace in Ireland.
  While Prime Minister Lynch's achievements were many, he is best 
remembered for encouraging a more tolerant Irish attitude toward 
British sovereignty in the Protestant-dominated North; a change in 
attitude that made the Good Friday peace accords possible. In 1969, 
during his tenure as Prime Minister, Jack Lynch showed remarkable 
restraint in his dealings with the North, resisting pressure from his 
party and many citizens of Ireland to send troops across the border to 
protect Catholics in Londonderry from attacks by Protestant 
paramilitaries and

[[Page 27050]]

local police forces. This desire for peace further manifested itself in 
the late 1970s, when Prime Minister Lynch began traveling to Belfast to 
discuss peace with British officials. These efforts cumulated in a 
historic dialogue about peace and tolerance with then-British Prime 
Minister Margaret Thatcher, a dialogue which began the gradual process 
of trust-building necessary for a lasting peace.
  Another reminder of the enduring achievements of Prime Minister Lynch 
is Irish membership in the European Union. In 1973, Ireland was a 
country with a failing economy, a high unemployment rate, and rampant 
emigration. In an effort to rekindle the faltering economy and 
reconnect Ireland with the European continent, Jack Lynch entered 
Ireland into the European Economic Community. Today, billions of 
dollars of European aid and investment have helped Ireland become one 
of the world's 25 wealthiest nations, unemployment has dropped to half 
the European Union average, and people are returning to their ancestral 
homes. It is mainly due to Prime Minister Lynch's foresight in 
negotiating Irish entry into the E.E.C. that this economic turnaround 
has occurred.
  These accomplishments only begin to illustrate the many professional 
successes of Peter Lynch. He was a man who was able to look past 
historic prejudice and heat-of-the-moment emotions to bring individuals 
with very different viewpoints together in meaningful dialogue. He was 
a visionary who saw the need for economic modernization and was 
unafraid to seek help from his European neighbors. And, in the end, he 
was a leader. As current Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern has said, 
his firm leadership saw Ireland through a period of great turbulence 
and his outstanding work to gain Irish membership in the E.E.C. changed 
forever the way Ireland sees itself as a nation. And for this, Mr. 
President, people of Irish descent, such as myself, thank him.

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