[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000-2001, Book III)]
[December 12, 2000]
[Pages 2687-2690]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks to the Community in Dundalk, Ireland
December 12, 2000
Thank you very much. First let me thank the Taoiseach, Bertie
Ahern, for his leadership and his friendship
and his kind and generous words tonight.
Mr. O'Hanrahan, thank you so much for
the gift and your words. Joan McGuinness--
it's not easy for someone who makes a living in private business to
stand up and give a speech before a crowd this large. If you look all
the way back there, there's a vast crowd. You can't see it in the dark,
but all the way back here there are just as many people. So I think we
ought
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to give Joan McGuinness another hand for the speech she gave here.
[Applause]
I thank the Government ministers, the Members of the Congress, and
other Americans who are here. I'd like to thank the musicians who came
out to play for us tonight and those who still will. You know, I like
music, and so I have to say it may be cold and dark, but I'm back in
Ireland, so, in the words of U2, ``It's a beautiful day.''
And I am particularly glad to be here in Dundalk, the ancient home
of Cuchulain. I want to acknowledge some natives of Dundalk who are
among our group here--the Taoiseach's spokesman, Joe Lennon; the White House correspondent for the Irish Times, Joe
Carroll; a member of our American Embassy team
in Dublin, Eva Burkury, who has been taking
late-night calls from us all week to make sure we do the right things in
her hometown.
Let me also say that for Hillary, Chelsea, and me, it's great to be
in the home town of the Corrs. Now, we had the privilege of being with
them and hearing them sing in Washington just Sunday night. They did you
proud. I understand their success has been great for your community,
except that in this tight labor market, you haven't been able to replace
them down at McManus' Pub.
In a few weeks, I'll have a little free time. [Laughter] You know, I
feel at home here. And so, even though I can't claim to have a granny
buried in Castletown, I hope you won't call me a blow-in. In America,
over 40 million of us claim Irish roots, and the number keeps going up
every year. I'm not sure whether that's because so many millions are
green with Irish ancestry or just green with envy of Ireland.
There are so many reasons to admire Ireland: the beauty of the land,
the people, the music, the dance, the movies, the golf--[laughter]--the
literature. You know, according--Americans in the audience will
understand this--according to the latest manual count--[laughter]--you
have won approximately 66 times the number of Nobel Prizes in literature
you would be entitled to, based on your percentage of the world
population. In so many ways, you have had an impact far beyond your
numbers, especially in your worldwide reputation for compassion and
taking on humanitarian causes.
And then there is your amazing Irish economy. Today, we're seeing
your economy reaching out across the ocean to us in the United States,
with Irish technology firms in Boston, New York, and Atlanta.
And I want to note, because we're here in County Louth, that the man
famous for the ideas behind this prosperity grew up just a short
distance from here, in Drogheda--or Drogheda. [Laughter] Anybody here
from Drogheda? [Applause] I told them to put you in the front row.
[Laughter]
Listen to this: In a major report in the late 1950's, T.K. Whittaker
wrote, ``Sooner or later, protectionism will have to go and the
challenge of free trade accepted, if Ireland wishes to keep pace with
the rest of Europe.'' Well, over the last 6 years, Ireland has outpaced
the rest of Europe. Indeed, you have turned deficit to surplus, slashed
debt, seen employment grow 4 times the rate of Europe, and seen your
economy grow faster than any other nation in the entire industrialized
world.
Earlier this year, as the Taoiseach said today, Ireland was selected
by our distinguished Massachusetts Institute of Technology as the
European location for its media-lab research center. The director said
he did this because--I love this--because of Ireland's antiestablishment
attitude to innovation. [Laughter] The Wall Street Journal says, Ireland
enjoys one of the freest economies in the world and one of the most
responsive governments.
With the strong leadership of Prime Minister Ahern and the Government, computer science graduates in
Ireland have jumped fourfold in just the last 4 years. Now Microsoft,
Intel, Nortel, IBM, Oracle, Lotus, Xerox, and Heinz and so many others
are in Ireland. And Ireland has now displaced the United States as the
number one software exporting country in the entire world. But you
enjoyed respect in the world long before this boom because Ireland has
been exporting compassion a lot longer than software.
Probably the saints in heaven don't spend too much time boasting of
their achievements. But if they do, I suspect the saints can bear no
more bragging from Saint Patrick, for no nation has ever lived up more
fully to the virtues of its patron saint than Ireland.
Some years ago, when your then President, Mary Robinson, paid a
visit to America, she told of a kindness Ireland received and never
forgot. During the Potato Famine, the Choctaw Indians in the United
States, who, themselves, were very poor and displaced from their own
land, collected from among themselves $147 and
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sent it to Ireland to help ease the suffering. One hundred and fifty
years later, the President of Ireland remembered that kindness on the
South Lawn of the White House, because it so closely mirrors your own
compassion.
To know suffering and reach out to others in suffering is woven into
the heart of Ireland. And in your rising prosperity, you have not
forgotten what it is to be poor. So you continue to reach out to the
dispossessed around the world. In your newfound peace, you have not
forgotten what it is to be at war, so you continue to stand guard for
peace around the world. That is a powerful reason that I am very glad
Ireland is now on the United Nations Security Council.
You might be interested to know--and you may not--that Ireland is so
well thought of around that world that when the campaign was on for the
Security Council members, you found help in surprising places. Your
Ambassador to Australia, Dick O'Brien, visited
14 countries in the South Pacific, seeking their votes. In the tiny
island nation of Tuvalu, he was met by a local journalist by the name of
O'Brien. [Laughter] He learned then that the Prime Minister of Tuvalu's
mother's name was O'Brien. [Laughter] Turns out, there was an Irish
sailor in the 19th century shipwrecked on Tuvalu, named O'Brien.
[Laughter] He liked it there, stayed on, and now, a full quarter of the
population are O'Briens. If the math is right, maybe there are more than
45 million Irish-Americans.
We are delighted to have you as our partner on the Security Council.
But as we look to Ireland and to America, we remember that for all our
efforts to heal the world, sometimes the toughest healing problems are
right at home.
The story of the United States, I believe, is largely about three
things: love of liberty; belief in progress; struggle for community. The
last has given us the most trouble and troubles us still. Matters aren't
so different for Ireland. For hundreds of years and intensely for the
last 30, you confronted the challenge of religious difference. You in
Dundalk know what it's like to face fear and isolation with unemployment
rising, the economy stalling, and hope failing.
A young businessman once said, ``Now, money isn't everything, but
it's up there with oxygen.'' We know violence suffocates opportunity. We
know in the end, there can be no full justice without jobs. Fortunately,
the Irish had the courage to grasp the chance for peace and the new
beginning.
Those who argued for peace promised a better life. But then, there
was no proof. Today, you are the proof of the fruits and wisdom of
peace. The border between Ireland and Northern Ireland is now more a
bridge than a barrier. Newry, just across that border, is your sister
city and economic partner.
Some fear the change won't last, but some of the smartest business
people in the world are already betting that it will last. You have a
cluster of information technology companies and broadband networks. Here
in this community, Xerox is making the second-largest American
investment in all of Ireland, and your Institute of Technology is
building classes to meet the growing needs of technology-based
employers.
I appreciated Prime Minster Ahern
mentioning the late Secretary Ron Brown and his trip here in 1994. When
he came back, he encouraged us to continue investing in Dundalk through
the International Fund for Ireland. I'm very glad we did. I know you
haven't solved every problem, but this is now a boomtown. It's a new day
in Dundalk and a new day in Ireland.
My friends, I come here near the end of my 8 years of service as
President of the United States to ask you to protect this progress, to
cherish it, and to build on it. As Pope John Paul said in Drogheda more
than 20 years ago, ``Violence only delays the day of justice.'' The
Bible says, ``There are many parts, but one body. If one part suffers,
every part suffers with it.'' It takes some people a long, long time to
fully grasp that. But life teaches us over and over and over again that
in the end, you cannot win by making your neighbor lose.
Unionists and nationalists, native-born Irish and immigrants, to all
of you, I say again, you cannot win by making your neighbor lose. Two
years ago, after the horrid bombing in Omagh, you good people filled
these streets. Young people came, not wanting to lose their dreams.
Older people came because they wanted a chance to live in peace before
they rest in peace. You stared violence in the face and said, ``No
more.'' You stood up for peace then, and I ask you, stand up for peace
today, tomorrow, and the rest of your lives.
Oh yes, there are still a few hills to climb on the road ahead. The
Taoiseach mentioned them. But the people of Ireland have two advantages
now. You now know the value of peace,
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and in the hard moments, you can also still draw strength from the
inspiration of your poets. Seamus Heaney once said of William Butler
Yeats, ``His intent was to clear a space in the mind and in the world
for the miraculous.'' Seamus was born the year Yeats died, and has spent
his own life clearing that space, following this instruction to himself:
``Walk on air against your better judgment.''
As extraordinary as Ireland's efforts are in exporting peace and
peacekeepers to troubled areas all around the world, I can tell you
nothing--nothing--will compare to the gift Ireland gives the world if
you make peace here permanent. You can give people all over the world
desperately needed hope and proof that peace can prevail, that the past
is history, not destiny. That is what I came to ask you to redouble your
efforts to do.
Every Saint Patrick's Day, the Taoiseach
comes to the United States, and we have a ceremony in the White House.
We sing Irish songs, tell Irish stories--everything we say is strictly
true, of course. [Laughter] In my very first Saint Patrick's Day
occasion as President, I said I would be a friend of Ireland not just on
Saint Patrick's Day but every day. I have tried to be as good as my
word. And every effort has been an honor and a gift.
Your kindness to me has brought life to Yeats' wonderful lines,
``Think where a man's glory most begins and ends, and say my glory was,
I had such friends.'' And so, my friends, as I prepare to leave my
office, a large part of my heart will always be in Ireland, for all the
days of my life. And let me say, I will pray: May the road of peace rise
up to meet you. May the wind of prosperity be always at your back. And
may the God of Saint Patrick hold you in the hollow of his hand.
Thank you, and God bless you.
Note: The President spoke at 8:52 p.m. in the Courthouse Square. In his
remarks, he referred to Pearce O'Hanrahan, councillor, Dundalk Urban
District Council No. 1; and Joan McGuinness, company secretary, Facility
Management Workshop, Ltd. The transcript released by the Office of the
Press Secretary also included the remarks of Prime Minister Bertie Ahern
of Ireland.