    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [March 17, 1998]
    [Pages 391-393]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Saint Patrick's Day Ceremony With Prime Minister

    Bertie Ahern of Ireland
    March 17, 1998

        President Clinton. Good morning. Please be seated everyone. This is
    a wonderful day for all of us here at the White House. It's a great
    pleasure to welcome the Taoiseach here. Bertie Ahern has given great
    leadership to the people of Ireland and to the peace process. This is
    his first St. Patrick's Day here since assuming office, and we're very
    grateful for his presence. We welcome him.
        And I want to turn the platform over to you. Thank you.
        Prime Minister Ahern. Thank you very much, President and Vice
    President. It's a great honor for me to be here, my first opportunity as
    Taoiseach of the Irish people, to be at the White House on St. Patrick's
    Day. I'm delighted to participate in this wonderful ceremony and to
    present to you some shamrocks from the land of your forebears.
        The presentation of shamrocks to the President of United States is a
    very apt symbol of very close and friendly relations between our two
    countries. St. Patrick used the shamrock as a religious symbol of unity
    and diversity, similar to the motto of the United States, e pluribus
    unum. And it remains a potent, unifying symbol, which is embraced by
    both traditions on the island of Ireland.
        The United States and Ireland are countries which enjoy long-
    established bonds stemming from our intertwined history. And as you
    generously acknowledged, Mr. President, Irish-Americans historically and
    still today have enriched Americans' way of life with the values of
    their heritage: love of family, faith, and hard work, a devotion to
    community, and compassion for those in need. They are things that we
    still live dear to. And for its part, the United States has been a
    constant resource of inspiration and support as Ireland has navigated
    its sometimes difficult history.
        And that solidarity is as vital today as it was during the Great
    Famine, which we've celebrated in the last few years, of 1845 to 1848,
    when the United States gave a new home and a new future to hundreds of
    thousands of Irish men and women. And the ties between our two
    countries, Mr. President, are now, of course, copper-fastened by an
    extremely vibrant economic relationship. And the flows of trade,
    investment, and tourism between Ireland and the

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    United States have reached unprecedented levels. U.S. investment has
    made a crucial contribution to Ireland's current prosperity. And
    equally, as a very profitable location for investment, Ireland has
    contributed to cooperate and to assist corporate wealth of many great
    U.S. companies.
        Mr. President, I'm very conscious that the principle of unity and
    diversity has been one of the major domestic themes of your Presidency.
    The leadership that you have provided on this theme has been inspiring,
    not only within the United States but also internationally, where it has
    an immediate renaissance in places such as Bosnia and Middle East and,
    of course, in Northern Ireland.
        And in Northern Ireland, your inspiring vision of peace, based on
    the acceptance of diversity, has been matched by your constant support
    for a process which has experienced its shares of ups and downs. And
    you've been true to your promise made here a number of years ago, that
    you would be a friend of Ireland, not just on St. Patrick's Day but
    every day. And your act of support for the process has not only been
    constant but also impeccably fair and balanced. And for that, I want to
    thank you.
        The encouragement, the access which you and your administration have
    provided to all of the participants and that your administration has
    provided for all of us has inspired us all in good days and sustained us
    on bad ones. And perhaps the greatest resource that you have given us is
    Senator George Mitchell, who in his chairmanship of the talks so aptly
    represents the qualities of good will, of wisdom, impartiality, and
    tenacity which the United States has brought to the Irish peace process.
        We're now entering, President, as we've spoken this morning, a
    decisive period in the talks. The core issues have been well and truly
    aired over the past months. As George has said recently, we are now in
    the end game; success will require courage, a willingness to compromise,
    and perhaps above all, a generous vision which transcended partnership,
    focuses on the common interest of all who are in the talks and all who
    share it.
        Our task will be greatly assisted by the continued support and
    encouragement which we know that we can count on from you, Mr.
    President, and from Mrs. Clinton, from your administration, and from our
    friends on both sides of the aisle of Congress.
        Mr. President, I want to thank you for everything you've done. I
    want to thank you for all that you've contributed to the cause of peace
    in Northern Ireland. And in presenting you with the unifying symbol of
    shamrock, I wish you and your family a very happy St. Patrick's Day.

    [At this point, Prime Minister Ahern made brief remarks in Gaelic and
    presented the President with a bowl of shamrocks.]

        President Clinton. Thank you very much, Taoiseach, and thank you for
    the bowl of shamrocks. We will proudly display it as a lasting symbol of
    our shared values and common heritage.
        I think I should say, in the interest of full disclosure, that my
    Cassidy relatives in Ireland sent me these cufflinks and this tie to
    wear on this day, so that I would be properly attired for your visit.
    [Laughter]
        Since last St. Patrick's Day, Ireland has chosen not only a new
    Prime Minister but also a new President, Mary McAleese of Belfast, the first Northerner to hold that office. We
    also share Ireland's pride in the fact that President McAleese's
    predecessor, our good friend Mary Robinson,
    now serves as United Nations Human Rights Commissioner.
        I also want to acknowledge the announcement by a great friend of
    Ireland and great Ambassador, Jean Kennedy Smith, that she intends to leave Dublin this summer. We
    thank you for your dedicated principled service to our country.
        Mr. Prime Minister, our cultures have enriched one another time and
    again as impassioned voices called back and forth across the Atlantic.
    Just as generations of American writers have been inspired by Yeats,
    Joyce, and Beckett, the great Irish musician Van Morrison sings of
    growing up in Belfast, reading Jack Kerouac while a distant radio signal
    played Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, and Hank Williams.
        Last year an Irish-American, a retired high school teacher named
    Frank McCourt, won our Pulitzer Prize for his
    remarkable ``Angela's Ashes,'' a memoir of growing up poor in Limerick
    and New York City in the 1930's and '40's. This writing pulls no
    punches, a fact admirers and critics in both of our countries have been
    quick to note. But his Limerick and his Ireland have changed. We are
    delighted that Ireland has enjoyed the best run of economic growth in
    the developed world during this decade, just

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    as America continues to profit from the labors of your sons and
    daughters.
        This is a holiday, a day for laughter and celebration. But let me
    say something about which we are all very serious. Northern Ireland now
    has an unparalleled opportunity for a just and lasting peace. The
    Taoiseach and his government and Tony Blair and
    the British Government have gone the extra mile to create an atmosphere
    in which negotiations can succeed. George Mitchell has been a very distinguished chairman of the peace talks,
    and we thank you for your comments, Taoiseach.
        During these St. Patrick's Day events, I will speak with the party
    leaders who have come here to Washington. I will tell all of them on all
    sides the same thing. I will say it as clearly and emphatically as I
    possibly can: This is the chance of a lifetime for peace in Ireland. You
    must get it done. You must do it for yourselves and your children. It is
    too late for those who have already been killed by the sectarian
    violence of the last three decades. But you can do it, and you must,
    now.
        To get an agreement, there must be compromise. No party can achieve
    all its objectives. The party leaders must lead, and leading means
    looking forward. And it means being strong enough to make principled
    compromise. Concessions that today might seem hard to accept will seem
    so much less important in the light of an accord that brings hope and
    peace and an end to violence. No one will be the loser if agreement is
    reached. Everyone will benefit from a chance to build a peaceful future.
    The parties must look at the larger picture, to the ultimate goal: a
    Northern Ireland for all, free of cowardly acts of violence, free of the
    division and despair that have robbed too many children of their futures
    for too long.
        Mr. Prime Minister, today you ask me to stay personally involved in
    the peace process. I will do everything I can. The United States will
    continue to stand firmly against extremists on both sides who want to
    use violence to thwart a peaceful, just solution that the vast majority
    of the people in Ireland, whom I was privileged to see in late 1995,
    clearly still want.
        As they negotiate, the parties, too, must continue to demonstrate by
    words and deeds that they reject violence. They must do everything
    possible to prevent further bloodshed.
        Here on the edge of the 21st century, there is a growing global
    community of people committed to peace, to democracy, to social justice,
    to putting the divisions of the past of religion and race, of ethnicity
    and tribe behind them. From Guatemala to Mozambique, even now to Bosnia,
    the unceasing desire of people for a peaceful, decent life is overcoming
    the forces of hate and bigotry and violence. Ireland, its leaders, and
    its peacekeeping forces have helped to contribute to the progress of
    this peace all around the world. There has not been a day in the last
    four decades when an Irish peacekeeper has not been somewhere on duty as
    a sentinel for peace in a distant part of the world.
        Now, all the people on the island of Ireland can be sentinels for
    peace, if only their leaders will make the principled agreements
    necessary to give them that chance.
        Again, let me say, the days I spent in Ireland in 1995 are perhaps
    the most memorable days of my life. As we rejoice today in the spirit of
    St. Patrick, the heritage of Irish and Irish-American people, let us
    remember what the spirit of St. Patrick was and how he became the first
    and only person ever to bring Christianity to a distant, alien place
    without the sword. And let us bring a future to Ireland worthy of that
    great achievement of St. Patrick.
        Thank you, and God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:45 a.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the
    White House. In his remarks, he referred to former Senator George J.
    Mitchell, independent chairman of the multi-party talks in Northern
    Ireland; and Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom.