[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Page 6217]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                WELCOMING THE PRIME MINISTER OF IRELAND

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I want to take a moment to welcome the Prime 
Minister of Ireland, who is here today. You will notice, I have a green 
tie on today. I am fully aware, as most Americans are, that St. 
Patrick's Day is on the 17th day of March, not the 13th day of March. 
But when the Prime Minister of Ireland arrives here to celebrate St. 
Patrick's Day a little earlier this year, those of us who are of Irish 
descent--and even those who are not but wish they were--generally wear 
a little green to celebrate this festive holiday.
  Prime Minister Ahern was at a lunch a little while ago hosted by the 
distinguished Speaker of the House, Denny Hastert. Vice President 
Cheney was also in attendance representing the President, who normally 
would be attending an event such as this today, but, obviously, events 
in the Middle East made it difficult for him to get away. All of us 
understand that. We regret he was not able to be with us, but we fully 
appreciate there are other matters that require his more immediate 
attention.
  But we thank the Prime Minister, the Taoiseach of Ireland, for him 
not only being here but for his tremendous work, along with Tony Blair 
and other political leaders in Northern Ireland, particularly Jerry 
Adams and David Trimble, in their efforts to try to resolve, once and 
for all, the political disputes that have been so devastating on the 
people of Northern Ireland over these last number of years. Based on 
conversations we have had, it would appear that we are getting very 
close to, hopefully, a final resolution of those issues.
  So I welcome the Prime Minister and other political leaders from 
Ireland and Northern Ireland who have come, as they traditionally do, 
to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, but have made this a working holiday, 
if you will, to engage in further conversations on what we might do to 
help resolve the matters of Northern Ireland, as well as to listen to 
their sound advice and observations regarding the turmoil that is 
brewing in the Middle East.

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