[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 11 (Monday, March 20, 2000)]
[Pages 567-569]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at an American Ireland Fund Dinner

March 16, 2000

    President Glucksman, Mr. Aikins, Senator Mitchell, members of the 
administration and Congress who are here, and our distinguished 
Ambassadors of the United States to Ireland and Ireland to the United 
States. To all the leaders of the parties from Northern Ireland who are 
here.
    Secretary Mandelson and, in his absence from his video, I would also 
say I very much appreciate what Tony Blair said earlier. And most of 
all, to you, Taoiseach, I thank you. I thank you for the award, and I 
thank the American Ireland Fund for all it has done for peace and 
progress in Ireland.
    And I want to say that this is about the most beautiful piece of 
Irish crystal I've ever seen. It also bares, as my wife said, a 
remarkable resemblance to a golf ball. [Laughter] And it is only for 
that reason and because he does not play, that I do not feel constrained 
to let it reside for half a year with George Mitchell--[laughter]--to 
whom we are all profoundly indebted.
    You know, basically, I don't believe that Presidents should get 
awards. The job itself is reward enough. But I'm honored and pleased to 
have this one, because, for me, the work for peace that I have done and 
our administration--Hillary, through the Vital Voices networks--it's 
been a labor of love at all hours of the day and night and through many 
months of frustration, through all of the efforts I've made just to 
understand, sometimes, the fights which seem to me to be inexplicable.
    So much has been accomplished in the last 2 years, especially, but 
really over the last almost 8 years. At the moment, we wish that the 
institutions were up, not down; we wish that everybody was in agreement, 
not feeling frustrated; but we must never forget that the ceasefires now 
are measured in years, not weeks, that people now shop in their 
downtowns without fear of bombs going off, that the gradual return to 
normal life was again reflected today in the announcement of the British 
Government that further troops will be redeployed for duty outside 
Northern Ireland, leaving no army battalion resident in Belfast for the 
first time in 31 years.
    More than 300 prisoners from both sides have been released; human 
rights and equality commissions have been formed; police reform is 
underway, and we are looking forward to the reform of the criminal 
justice system. A peace dividend has begun to take hold in Northern 
Ireland's economy, more

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people employed there than ever before, unemployment the lowest in 20 
years. tourists up by 11 percent last year alone, American visitors 
doubling in the last decade, rising investment in trade, and economy 
becoming as modern as that of our Irish and British counterparts.
    I am very proud of the role the United States has played in this 
economic rebirth as well. The International Fund For Ireland, to which 
we are the largest donor, has leveraged a billion and a half dollars of 
direct investment, helping to create over 30,000 jobs. The Walsh visa 
program will bring thousands of young Irish men and women to the United 
States for education and training, especially in high-tech areas.
    Our new micro-lending program, Aspire, is inspiring small business 
and entrepreneurs at a rapid rate. And as the Taoiseach said, a year ago 
at this time, the people of Northern Ireland did not enjoy self-rule. 
Last year, the assembly was established, the executives, the bodies were 
put to work, and lo and behold, the Irish were pretty good at self-
government in the North as well. Ministers from both sides met together, 
worked together, took care of constituents together, made mistakes 
together and learned together, just the sort of thing democratic 
governments ought to do everywhere. They were successfully tackling some 
of their toughest shared problems and building structures for cross-
border cooperation with the Irish Republic.
    Now what? Well, we must begin by respecting the will of the people. 
After all, they voted in record numbers not for stalemate and delay but 
for progress and peace. The threat of violence from whatever source must 
be removed forever, from Northern Ireland's politics clearly and 
unequivocally.
    At the same time, the people have the right to expect their leaders, 
with the support of the Irish and British Governments, to show vision 
and good will, to come together to establish a basis upon which the new 
institutions can be restored and the Good Friday accord can be 
implemented in full just as the people voted.
    The United States and all the friends of peace must do all we can to 
assist, to honor the heroic efforts of Senator Mitchell, to reaffirm out 
lasting pledge that so long as the people of Northern Ireland walk the 
road of peace, we will walk with you. Tomorrow at the White House I will 
be discussing this with the parties and listening and working for an 
answer.
    The last century began with bloodshed across Ireland, and across the 
United States in our cities, signs that read, ``No Irish need apply.'' 
This one begins with the best hope for Irish peace in our lifetimes and 
with Irish and Americans of every background gathered in Washington to 
rejoice in Ireland's rich contributions to America's national life.
    I don't know that I've had so much to do with this, the progress 
that has been made. Tonight I am more burdened by the fact that I have 
not found an answer for the present stalemate. But I will say this: I 
have loved Ireland. My wife and my daughter have loved Ireland, North 
and South. We love the music, the dance, the language, the land.
    If Mr. Yeats was right when he said, ``Our glory begins and ends in 
our friends,'' I can say truly, I have simply tried to be a friend. But 
as a friend who, unlike Taoiseach here, has a term limit and, therefore, 
who no longer has to stand for election, I must honestly say that I have 
spent an enormous amount of time as President comforting the victims of 
violence, mostly Americans, the people who died in Croatia trying to 
help overcome ethnic and religious hatred in the Balkans, the people who 
died in a terrorist bombing in the Middle East, trying to help the 
people of that land and region find a different way, Irish victims of 
the Omagh bombing, the children's families who died in the school 
shootings in America and on and on.
    And I have spent a great deal of time trying to decide exactly what 
it is that makes people define the meaning of their lives in terms of 
their differences, their religion, their racial, their ethnic, their 
tribal differences, and how those differences come to be magnified in 
our minds, along with the accumulated grievances of past wrongs, so that 
we are paralyzed to turn the clenched fist into the open hand, and how, 
even when we start--and what a start we have made in Ireland--it is just 
hard to go on and easy to stop.
    I must confess, as your friend, I still do not know the answer to 
these things. But I

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do know that life is fleeting, and opportunities come and also go. We 
have the chance of a lifetime here. You have done it--all of you, the 
Irish parties, have done this. The British have done it. We Americans, 
we've just been friends. But good friends tell each other the truth, the 
loving truth. Whatever the differences, it's not worth another life--not 
one. It's not worth another day's delay, much less a year. We're all 
just passing through this old world with an amount of time which we know 
not.
    We're really happy and proud to be here tonight because we sense 
that good things have happened because people rose above their fears, 
their hatred, their honest wounds, their deep scars, to give a better 
future to their children. They're still out there, and they're still 
waiting. We have to find a way to put this back on track. And if we do, 
everyone will win. And that beautiful crystal piece there, it'll be a 
crystal ball, showing a way to our children's tomorrow.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 9:42 p.m. in the Center Hall at the 
National Building Museum. In his remarks, he referred to Loretta Brennan 
Glucksman, president, Kingsley Aikins, executive director, American 
Ireland Fund; former Senator George J. Mitchell, who chaired the 
multiparty talks in Northern Ireland; U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Michael 
J. Sullivan; Irish Ambassador Sean O'hUiginn; Secretary of State for 
Northern Ireland Peter Mandelson and Prime Minister Tony Blair of the 
United Kingdom; and Prime Minister Bertie Ahern of Ireland. Prior to his 
remarks the President received the American Ireland Fund's Millennium 
Peace Award.