[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 16 (Monday, April 20, 1998)]
[Pages 636-638]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Exchange With Reporters Prior to Discussions With Former Senator George 
J. Mitchell

April 13, 1998

Possible Visit to Ireland

    Q. Mr. President, are you going to make a trip to Ireland?
    The President. Well, if it would help, of course I would be willing 
to go, but I think it's important not to make that decision yet. I 
haven't had a chance to talk to the two Prime Ministers about it or the 
leaders of the main parties. If they think I should go--and they've got 
the biggest stake and the closest sense of the public--I would be happy 
to do it. But I have not decided to do it, and it's really completely up 
to them.
    Q. Do you think that it might constitute sort of unwarranted 
interference in their affairs for you to go before the referendums?
    The President. That's a decision I want them to make. That's why I 
said I don't think it's my place, really, to deal with this one way or 
the other. I'm not going to weigh in on it. I'm always willing to do 
whatever I can to help, but I don't want to do something that would 
undermine the chances of success. I want to do whatever I can to 
increase the chances that the parties themselves and the public now will 
make a decision.

U.S. Ambassador to Ireland

    Q. Are you sending Riley to Ireland?

[[Page 637]]

    The President. I have made no decision about the next Ambassador to 
Ireland. I've made no decision about that.
    Q. Why?
    The President. Because I haven't. I haven't had time. I've been 
doing other things.

President's Income Taxes

    Q. How much are you paying on your taxes?
    The President. A bunch. I don't know. We'll give you the form today.

Northern Ireland Peace Process

    Q. Mr. President, could you see yourself naming a successor to 
Senator Mitchell, a person to be on the ground, a new sort of peace 
envoy, to help the Irish and the British through a new phase?
    The President. No one has even suggested that to me yet. I think 
what we should all be focused on now is getting the facts of the 
agreement out to the Irish publics, letting the people in the North and 
in the Republic vote their convictions, and then see where we are.
    As I said, I'm always willing to do whatever I can to help, but the 
role of the United States here is a supporting role. And to try to 
help--as I said, we should always try to help create or preserve the 
environment within which peace can occur and progress, and then 
encourage the parties that have to make the decisions, including the 
general public. And so I'm open to that. But there has literally been no 
discussion of that. Nothing.
    Q. Have you seen the agreement yet, and what chances do you give it?
    The President. Of course I've seen it. I'm not a handicapper. I want 
to be encouraging. The important thing is that the public that I saw 
there in December of '95 in both communities wanted peace. They wanted 
an honorable peace. They wanted a process by which they could begin to 
work together. And I think that the agreement that Senator Mitchell has 
hammered out, that the parties have agreed to, provides them that 
chance, and I hope that they will seize it.

[At this point, one group of reporters left the room, and another group 
entered.]

    Q. Do you know at what moment David Trimble changed his mind? And do 
you have any idea why? Because on Wednesday he said, no deal, he 
couldn't accept your framework agreement.
    Senator Mitchell. There was a process of negotiation which occurred 
between Wednesday and Friday in which changes were made to the draft 
document in a manner that led all of the parties to eventually find it 
acceptable. That's what comes out of negotiation.
    Q. But at what point did he say, ``Yes, that's it, that's what I was 
waiting for.'' Or did he never?
    Senator Mitchell. I first knew that the agreement would be approved 
at 4:45 in the afternoon on Friday when Mr. Trimble called me and said 
that they were ready to go. We had distributed the agreement in its 
final form on Friday morning, and I had been in touch with all of the 
party leaders during the day to inquire as to when they might be ready 
to go with a final plenary session to vote on the agreement and to 
approve it.
    And of course during those discussions I encouraged them and 
inquired of them as to whether they would be ready to vote for it. And 
gradually, over the course of the day, several of them said, we're ready 
to go now, and we'll vote for it. And at 4:45 p.m., Mr. Trimble called 
me to say he was ready to go and was prepared to get it done. And so as 
to make certain that it was done without any further interruption, I 
called the meeting right then and there.
    Q. Would you have gotten the agreement without the input of 
President Clinton?
    Senator Mitchell. I don't think there would have been an agreement 
without President Clinton's involvement--not beginning this past week 
but beginning several years ago. I think the President's decisions have 
been timely, have been critical, and I think it's very important to keep 
that in mind, that while the President was very actively involved in the 
concluding negotiations, including staying up all night and making phone 
calls to many people, including myself, they didn't begin there. They 
began 5 years ago, and what happened was the culmination of a long 
process of involvement by the President.

[[Page 638]]

    No American President has ever before visited Northern Ireland while 
in office. No American President has ever before placed the problem of 
Northern Ireland high on the American agenda at a time when it seemed 
that there was no prospect for success. It's an easy thing to get 
involved in an issue when it's on the downhill side and it looks like 
it's going to succeed. President Clinton got involved in Northern 
Ireland when no one gave any chance for success.
    So the answer is yes, the President's role was critical. I don't 
think there would have been an agreement without his leadership and 
participate, and it began many years ago.

Note: The exchange began at 2:35 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. In his remarks, the President referred to Prime Minister Bertie 
Ahern of Ireland and Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom. 
Senator Mitchell, chairman of the multiparty talks in Northern Ireland, 
referred to David Trimble, Ulster Unionist Party leader. A tape was not 
available for verification of the content of this exchange.