[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
[March 17, 1999]
[Pages 396-397]
[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, 1999

    The President. Thank you very much. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. 
Happy Saint Patrick's Day--and what a beautiful day it is.
    We are following the custom today, which is, first of all, I 
received my shamrocks, for which I am very grateful. And with the year 
ahead I'd say we are very much in need of them, and we'll make good use 
of them. I would like to ask the Taoiseach to come up now and make his 
remarks, as is customary, and then I'd like to say a few words about 
where we are in the peace process.
    Mr. Prime Minister, welcome back to the United States.

[Prime Minister Ahern made remarks on the peace process.]

    The President. Thank you very much, Taoiseach. Thank you for the 
beautiful crystal bowl of shamrocks, its promise of spring, which is 
reflected in the weather we enjoy today, and its symbol of our shared 
heritage, our shared values, and our shared hopes for the future.
    Let me say first a few words of tribute to you for your leadership 
of the Republic and the success you have enjoyed. Last year was Bertie 
Ahern's first Saint Patrick's Day in Washington as Taoiseach. I talked 
then about Frank McCourt growing up in poverty 
in Limerick, about Van Morrison growing up in 
Belfast and hearing a new world through music, about a generation of 
children growing up in the shadows of the Troubles. Together on that 
day, the Taoiseach and I reaffirmed that the parties in Northern Ireland 
had the chance to find common ground.
    Now, a year later, look at what's happened. First of all, as I told 
the Taoiseach over lunch, Frank McCourt's book 
``Angela's Ashes'' is being made into a movie. But Ireland and Limerick 
are doing so well economically, as I had a chance to see for myself last 
summer, that the producers could not find in all of Limerick

[[Page 397]]

enough dilapidated buildings to use in the film. And so in order to film 
in Ireland, they actually had to construct new dilapidated buildings. 
That is true economic progress. Meanwhile, Van Morrison's music continues to inspire people seeking to end the 
violence. And of course, most importantly, in the last year the 
negotiators did the job with the Good Friday agreement. The people of 
Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic overwhelmingly endorsed it, and 
as the Taoiseach has said, enormous progress has been made in its 
implementation.
    We are grateful for the work of the leaders in Northern Ireland, in 
Ireland, and in Great Britain for their support and their efforts in 
this regard. We are grateful, in particular, for the Taoiseach, for 
Prime Minister Blair, for Mo Mowlam, and all those who have taken an especially leading 
role. We are grateful for the Nobel Prize winners, John Hume and David Trimble, and all the 
other leaders of the various factions in Northern Ireland.
    But as Bertie said, the enemies of peace are still rearing their 
head. We saw it in Omagh. We saw it on Monday with the murder of 
Rosemary Nelson. We saw it with another act of violence yesterday.
    Now, in a few short weeks, the time will come to bring the new 
institutions to life so that the people of Northern Ireland finally can 
begin to take their destinies into their own hands.
    To fully implement the Good Friday accord, the parties simply must 
resolve their differences. And to do it, they have to have the same 
spirit of cooperation and trust that led to the first agreement. They 
must lift their sights above the short-term difficulties. They must see 
that distant horizon when children will grow up in an Ireland trouble-
free, and not even remember how it used to be.
    You know, on Saint Patrick's Day, we all rejoice in being Irish; 
even people that aren't Irish in America claim to be Irish. I told the 
Taoiseach at the Speaker's lunch--we just came from that--I said, ``You 
know, every time we have these Saint Patrick's Day events, the Prime 
Minister of Ireland and all of the leaders of all the factions in 
Northern Ireland, they come here to the United States and they thank us 
for helping to promote the peace in Ireland. But the truth is, we should 
be thanking them because it's the only time we can be absolutely sure 
there will be peace between Republicans and Democrats in the United 
States. When they come here, all the Irish Republicans and the Irish 
Democrats in the United States and all the people who claim to be Irish 
on Saint Patrick's Day actually behave in a very civil and cooperative 
way toward one another.''
    I think it's worth remembering that when Saint Patrick came from 
England to Christianize Ireland, he did it without a sword, without the 
order of law. It was the only time in all history that a whole nation 
had converted without any force or bloodshed. He did it by carefully 
listening to the Irish people, understanding what they needed to do, how 
they could change, how they could not, and treating them with a profound 
amount of care and respect.
    We pray now that the Irish people on opposite sides of this last 
divided peace process will heed the example of Saint Patrick and give us 
an even bigger celebration here next year.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 2:10 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Prime Minister Tony Blair and 
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Marjorie Mowlam, United Kingdom; 
Social Democratic and Labour Party leader John Hume; and Ulster Unionist 
Party leader David Trimble.