[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 50 (Monday, December 18, 2000)]
[Pages 3065-3067]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Exchange With Reporters Prior to Discussions With Prime Minister Bertie 
Ahern of Ireland in Dublin

December 12, 2000

President's Visit to Ireland

    Q. Mr. President, why do you keep coming back to Ireland?
    The President. Well, I got invited. And you know, I've had a special 
interest in my tenure here and the peace process, and the Taoiseach and 
Prime Minister Blair have worked hard, as the parties in Northern 
Ireland have, and there's still a little work to be done. So I thought 
maybe if I came back, I could help a little, and I hope I can.

Peace Process in Northern Ireland

    Q. What's your message to the politicians, to the people of Northern 
Ireland and, indeed, to the paramilitaries?
    The President. Well, first, I think the people, by and large, have 
embraced the peace and are in some ways leading the process. And I don't 
think they want to go back. I

[[Page 3066]]

think the leadership of the Irish Government, the Taoiseach 
particularly, and the support of the British Government have helped. I 
think the incredible success of the Irish economy has helped.
    I think people can see the benefits of peace. So my message is, to 
those parties which aren't involved in the process, they ought to join 
and not wreck it. There's too much to be gained, and too much has 
already been gained. And to those who are part of the process and have 
disagreements, I hope they'll try to work them out.
    Q. Mr. President, do you care to comment on the suggestion that 
after you leave the White House, you might be prepared to become a 
special peace envoy to Ireland?
    The President. [Laughter] Well, I think the new President, whoever 
it may be, will want to have a new team in place, and I will support 
that. I want to support whatever decisions the new administration makes 
on foreign policy. And if I can be a resource, I will. If I can ever 
help the Irish, of course I will.
    But I think in terms of my Government's representation, that will be 
entirely up to the new President, and I will support whatever decisions 
are made on that.
    Q. Taoiseach, do you expect the President's visit, and especially 
the visit to Belfast tomorrow, to move the process forward? At the 
moment, it's caught up in the old difficulties over demilitarization--
and all the rest of it. Do you expect the President----
    Prime Minister Ahern. Well, first, I say it's a great honor for us 
in the Irish Government and, I think, everybody in Ireland that the 
President is here. He is more and more welcome than I think even his 
other two visits. We're so pleased, and I think everybody in this 
country is pleased, and all of you in the media know that from the 
reaction over the last number of weeks since it was confirmed.
    Of course I think the President can help. To expect all of the 
problems to be resolved in one go, of course, is impractical. But the 
very fact the President's coming has helped in the last few weeks for 
people to focus on still what are difficulties and to try to narrow down 
those difficulties and to look at the possibilities--and they are only 
possibilities--of what we can do.
    I know that the talks we'll have now, the talks during the course of 
the day and tomorrow and the visit to Dundalk tonight, will allow people 
to see all that we have achieved. And I think now, what we're doing is, 
we're dealing with some of the side issues that are still residual 
issues out of the Good Friday agreement, and we still have to deal with 
those. And we are dealing with them, and this visit will help that.
    Q. Taoiseach, will you miss Bill Clinton when he steps down?
    Prime Minister Ahern. I will, yes. No doubt about that.
    Q. Mr. President, when you were here, you called on the parties to 
take a risk for peace. Are we now at a situation where you will call on 
the parties again to take a further risk?
    The President. Well, I think we have to keep going. I don't think 
there's--I don't think reversal is an option. And as I said, the people 
are not there. It's obvious to me, from all the human contact, just the 
increasing cross-border contacts, that the people want this thing to go 
on. And I think the leaders just have to find a way through the last 
three or four difficult issues, and I think it can be done.
    I'll do what I can to be helpful.
    Q. You really care about this, don't you?
    The President. Yes, I do. I always have. You know--let me just say, 
the Americans--you know, the American people, about 40 million of us 
have some Irish blood. And we also have had a unique relationship with 
Great Britain. It's been--I mean, they burned the White House in 1814, 
but since then it's been pretty good. [Laughter] You know, we fought two 
World Wars together; we stayed through the cold war together; and the 
way it used to be was a source of immense pain to a lot of Americans.
    Many of the American people who have wanted to be involved had no 
constructive way to do that. And I hope and believe we've changed that 
over the last 8 years. So to me, it's just a question of you've just got 
to keep going and keep bringing more and more and more people in, 
because the Irish have proved that you can do this.

[[Page 3067]]

    I said something before when I was here, I'll say again: I don't 
think you can possibly imagine the impact of a success in the Irish 
peace process on trouble spots throughout the world. That's another 
thing that's been very important to me as the President of the United 
States, because I have to be involved in Latin America and Asia and 
Africa, the Balkans.
    And so I care a lot about this. But I also--I want you to know how 
much people around the world look to your--and draw courage from what 
you do here.

Note: The exchange began at 12:15 p.m. in the Office of the Taoiseach. 
In his remarks, the President referred to Prime Minister Tony Blair of 
the United Kingdom. A tape was not available for verification of the 
content of this exchange.